Triage tool for problem reporting in maps

ABSTRACT

A graphical user interface (GUI) of a triage tool for triaging reported problems is described. The GUI includes a first set of UI items for viewing reported problems of maps. The GUI includes a second set of UI items for viewing map data related to the reported problems. The GUI includes a third set of UI items for sending triaged problems to a set of sources of the map data.

CLAIM OF BENEFIT TO PRIOR APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication 61/655,995, filed Jun. 5, 2012; U.S. Provisional PatentApplication 61/656,015, filed Jun. 6, 2012; U.S. Provisional PatentApplication 61/656,080, filed Jun. 6, 2012; U.S. Provisional Application61/657,858, filed Jun. 10, 2012; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application61/699,841, filed Sep. 11, 2012. U.S. Applications 61/655,995,61/656,015, 61/656,080, 61/657,858, 61/699,842, and 61/699,851 areincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

With proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones, users areenjoying numerous applications of numerous kinds that can be run ontheir devices. One popular type of such application is mapping andnavigation applications that allow user to browse maps and get routedirections. Despite their popularity, these mapping and navigationapplications have shortcomings with their user interfaces and featuresthat cause inconvenience to the users.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Some embodiments of the invention provide an integrated mappingapplication that includes several useful modalities, including locationbrowsing, map searching, route identifying and route navigatingoperations. These operations are complex tasks that, whilecomplementary, each have very different user interface (UI)requirements. The mapping application in some embodiments has a novel UIdesign that addresses the difficult challenges of integrating the neededcontrols for each of its different modalities into a seamless andcohesive application user interface. The novel UI design and theapplication are defined to be executed by a device that has atouch-sensitive screen that displays the output of the application. Insome embodiments, this device has a multi-touch interface for allowing auser to provide touch and gestural inputs through the screen to interactwith the application.

In some embodiments, a goal of the mapping application UI is thaton-screen controls are kept to a minimum in order to display as much ofthe interactive map as possible. One element in this design is a buttoncluster that floats on top of the content itself rather than taking upthe full-width of the screen, as typical in phone UI elements.Additionally, this cluster adapts to the task at hand, adjusting itscontents in an animated fashion when a user moves between the differentmodalities (e.g., between browsing, searching, routing and navigating).This common element with an adaptive nature enables the mappingapplication to optimize for different tasks while maintaining aconsistent look and interaction model while moving between those tasks.

One example of an adaptive, floating control in some embodiments is thelist control. When there are opportunities to display a list of items,be it a list of instructions in a route or a list of search results whenmultiple results are found for a given query, the mapping application ofsome embodiments displays a list button as one of the floating controls.Tapping the list button brings up a modal list view in some embodiments.Having a modal list view keeps the mapping application simple and themap front and center. In some embodiments, the list view itself isadapted and optimized for the type of list being displayed, in thatsearch results will be displayed with star ratings when available androute steps will include instructional arrows.

Another floating control is a control for viewing map or inspecting aroute in three dimensions (3D). The mapping application provides the 3Dcontrol as a quick mechanism of getting into and out of 3D. This controlalso serves as (1) an indicator that the current view is a 3D view, and(2) an indicator that a 3D perspective is available for a given map view(e.g., a map view that is zoomed out might not have a 3D viewavailable).

In addition to the 3D control, the mapping application of someembodiments allows a user to transition a map view from atwo-dimensional (2D) presentation to a 3D presentation through gesturalinputs of the multi-touch interface of the device. For instance, througha two finger gestural input, the user can be made to experience“pushing” down a 2D map view into a 3D map view, or “pulling” up a 3Dmap view into a 2D map view. This can also be thought of as pulling downa virtual camera from a 2D (directly from above) view into a 3D (sideangle) view through the two-finger gesture. As further described below,the 3D view of the map is generated in some embodiments by rendering themap view from a particular position that can be conceptually thought ofas the position of a virtual camera that is capturing the map view.

Through gestural inputs, the mapping application allows a user to alsorotate a 2D or 3D map in some embodiments. The mapping application insome embodiments is a vector mapping application that allows for directmanipulations (such as rotation and 2D/3D manipulations) of the mapwhile browsing it. However, some of the effects to the map can bedisorienting. Without an easy way to get back to north-up orientation(i.e., an orientation where the north direction is aligned with the topof the device), some users may have difficulty interacting with the mapviews. To solve this, the mapping application of some embodimentsprovides an unobtrusive floating compass control on the map that servesboth as an indicator that points to north and as a button to restore anorth-up orientation. To further minimize clutter on the map, themapping application only shows the button only in a limited number ofsituations (such as when the map is rotated, etc.).

In order to minimize the number of on-screen controls, certain lessfrequently used actions are placed in a secondary UI screen behind a“page curl” that is displayed on a map view that is provided by theapplication. In some embodiments, the page curl is permanently displayedon at least some of the map views that the application provides. Forinstance, in some embodiments, the application displays the page curlpermanently on the initial map view that it provides for allowing a userto browse or search a location or to identify a route. In someembodiments, the page curl is a controllable UI item that has differentappearances in different embodiments such as a button, a curled upcorner of a page, a highlighted corner of a map, etc. The page curl (1)indicates the location of another set of controls that are conceptually“behind” the current view, and (2) when selected, directs theapplication to present an animation that “peels” off the current view todisplay another view that shows the other set of controls. The mappingapplication allows the user to control the page curl using a number ofdifferent gestures (e.g., selecting, dragging, tapping, sliding,rotating, etc.). In some embodiments, the mapping application displaysan animation of the page being folded, lift up, and/or curled indifferent combination of angles and rotation as the user providesdifferent gestural inputs as if the user is manipulating a sheet ofpaper by grabbing a corner of the sheet.

The use of the page curl allows the application to display more of themap while offering an unobtrusive way to access further functionalitythat is provided by the other set of controls. Additionally, in someembodiments, the application does not use the page curl in map viewswhere the additional functionality is deemed to be inappropriate to thetask at hand. For instance, in some embodiments, the application doesnot display this page curl while presenting the map view that is usedduring navigation.

In some embodiments, the application displays the page curl for everymap view that the application provides. In other embodiments, theapplication does not display the page curl with every map view that theapplication provides. For instance, the application of these embodimentsdoes not display the page curl when a map view is used duringnavigation. However, in some embodiments, the page curl returns when theapplication is showing the overview of the route during navigation.

The search field of the mapping application in some embodiments isanother UI tool that the application employs to make the transitionbetween the different modalities seamless. In some embodiments, a usercan initiate a search by tapping in the search field. This directs theapplication to present an animation that (1) presents an on-screenkeyboard and (2) opens a search table full of invaluable completions.This table has some important subtleties. When the search field istapped and before the terms are edited, or when the search field isempty, the table contains a list of “recents,” which in some embodimentsare recent searches and route directions that the user has requested.This makes it very easy to quickly bring up recently accessed results.

After any edit in the search field, the table is filled with searchcompletions both from local sources (e.g., bookmarks, contacts, recentsearches, recent route directions, etc.) and remote servers. Someembodiments, however, include recent route directions only when the userhas not yet entered any text into the search field. Once text isentered, the mapping application removes recent route directions fromthe search completions table. The incorporation of the user's contactcard into the search interface adds additional flexibility to thedesign. When showing recents, a route from current location to theuser's home is always offered in some embodiments, while it is offeredin the contexts that are deemed to be “appropriate” in otherembodiments. Also, when the search term matches at least part of anaddress label (e.g., ‘ork’ for ‘Work’), the application presents theuser's labeled address as a completion in the search table in someembodiments. Together these behaviors make the search UI a very powerfulway to get results onto a map from a variety of sources. In addition toallowing a user to initiate a search, the presence of the text field inthe primary map view in some embodiments also allows users to see thequery corresponding to search results on the map and to remove thosesearch results by clearing the query.

Another way that the mapping application tightly integrates the searchand route identification experience is by providing several differentways to get directions. As mentioned above, the search table providesquick access to recently used routes. For any location selected on themap view, the mapping application in some embodiments also presents aninfo display banner (e.g., a window) that displays a quick-routenavigation UI control (e.g., button) that fetches a route (e.g., adriving route) from the current location to that pin without everleaving the map view. In addition, the mapping application also providesa selectable direction UI control (e.g., button) on the main map view(e.g., on the top left corner), which when selected presents a modaldirections editing interface that enables the user to request morecustomized routes, such as routes that do not begin from the currentlocation or a walking route instead of just driving routes. In someembodiments, the mapping application provides several differentselectable routes based on a route query that it receives through thedirection UI control. In such embodiments, the user can then select oneof the routes. In some embodiments, one of the routes is presented as adefault selected route, and the user can change the selected route to beone of the other presented routes. It should be noted that while neitherthe route history entries in the search field nor quick-route navigationcontrol perform actions that cannot be achieved with the direction item,they serve as important accelerators that make it much easier to obtainthe most commonly desired routes.

Once route directions have been obtained, they remain present until theyare expressly cleared. This enables the mapping application to enter amode that is optimized for navigation. The navigation mode has manynovel features. One novel feature is that at any time while navigating,the user can move between a full-screen mode that presents a displayview optimized for turn-by-turn directions and an overview mode thatpresents a display view of the remaining route that better accommodatesbrowsing. Some embodiments also allow for a search to be performed whilenavigating in the overview mode. For instance, some embodiments providea pull down handle that allows the search field to be pulled into theoverview display. Alternatively, or conjunctively, some embodimentsallow for searches to be performed during navigation through avoice-recognition input of the device of some embodiments.

Continuity between the overview mode and the full-screen mode isachieved by an in-place transition in the map and a constant set ofcontrols. To enter full-screen mode, the application in some embodiments(1) automatically hides the floating controls and a bar (containing UIcontrols) along the top, and (2) completely uncurls the map. During thefull-screen mode, the application restricts touch interaction with themap. In some embodiments, a tap is required to access the controls thatwere automatically hidden, and even then they are adapted towards afull-screen navigation look, with a prominent display of the ETA in thebar along the top.

The mapping application of some embodiments allows the user to stopnavigation in both overview and full-screen modes by selecting a controlto end navigation at any time while navigating. The mapping applicationof some embodiments also allows the user to modify the turn-by-turnnavigation view to see alternative three-dimensional (3D) views or topresent a two-dimensional (2D) view at any time while navigating. Insome embodiments, the 3D turn-by-turn navigation is an animatedrendering of navigated route that is rendered from the vantage point ofa virtual camera that traverses along the direction of the route basedon the traversal direction and speed of the user, which in someembodiments is captured by directional data (e.g., GPS data,triangulated cell-tower data, etc.) associated with the device.

While navigating, the mapping application of some embodiments allows auser to change the position of the virtual camera (i.e., the positionfrom which the navigated route is rendered) through gestural input onthe device's screen. Movement of the virtual camera (i.e., movement ofthe position from which the route is rendered) allows the mappingapplication to present alternative 3D view. Some embodiments even usethe virtual camera to render a top-down 2D view for the turn-by-turnnavigation, while other embodiments render the top-down 2D view byzooming in and out of a 2D map. In some embodiments, the mappingapplication presents a 3D button that serves both as 3D indicator and 3Dinitiator/toggle.

Different embodiments provide different gestural inputs to adjust the3D/2D view during turn-by-turn navigation. In some embodiments, thegestural input is a two-finger pinching/spreading operation to adjustthe zoom level. This adjustment of the zoom level inherently adjusts theposition and rotation of the camera with respect to the route direction,and thereby changes the 3D perspective view of the route direction.Alternatively, other embodiments provide other gestural inputs (e.g., afinger drag operation) that change the position of the camera instead ofor in addition to the zoom operation. In yet other embodiments, agestural input (e.g., a finger drag operation) momentarily changes theviewing direction of the camera to allow a user to momentarily glance toa side of the navigated route. In these embodiments, the applicationreturns the camera to its previous view along the route after a shorttime period.

The mapping application of some embodiments provide realistic-lookingroad signs that are used during navigation and during the browsing of anidentified route. In some embodiments, the signs are textured imagesthat bear a strong resemblance to actual highway signs, and they includeinstructional arrows, text, shields, and distance. The mappingapplication of some embodiments presents a wide number of variants in alarge number of different contexts. For maneuvers that are closetogether, a secondary sign is presented hanging just beneath the primarysign. Signs are presented in different colors according to the regionalnorms in some embodiments. Also, as one maneuver is passed duringnavigation, the mapping application animates the sign away with a motionthat mimics a sign passing overhead on the highway. When a maneuver isapproached, the mapping application draws attention to the sign with asubtle animation (e.g., a shimmer across the entire sign).

As mentioned above, the mapping application of some embodiments uses therealistic-looking road signs to provide a novel method of browsing aroute that it has identified. For instance, in some embodiments, themapping application allows a user to select and scroll through the signsof the junctures along an identified route when it presents theidentified route to the user. As the user scrolls through each sign, theportion of the route associated with the currently in-focus sign ispresented or highlighted (e.g., through color highlighting or throughanother geometry (e.g., a circle or other mark) marking the portion).Alternatively, or conjunctively, the user can scroll through each signby selecting different junctures of the route in order to view the signassociated with that juncture. Some of these embodiments provide thisinteraction only for routes that are not defined between a user'scurrent location and a destination. In other words, these embodiments donot provide this browsing experience when a route is presented thatconnects the user's current location to a destination. Otherembodiments, however, provide the route browsing experience through theroad signs in other or all other contexts in which a route is displayed.

Some embodiments of the invention provide a novel triaging tool fortriaging the problem reports received from devices so that selectedproblems are sent to the map servers for resolving the problems. Thenovel triaging tool of some embodiments provides a single interfacethrough which to perform the whole triaging process. This singleinterface allows the user to view a problem report, map data, and theinformation to send to the map source(s) together. The single interfacealso automates parts of the triaging process so that the triager cantriage problem reports more efficiently than using several differenttools for different parts of the triaging process.

The above-described features as well as some other features of themapping application of some embodiments are further described below. Inthe description above and below, many of the features are described aspart of an integrated mapping application that provides novel locationbrowsing, locating searching, route identifying and route navigatingoperations. However, one of ordinary skill will realize that these noveloperations are performed in other embodiments by applications that donot perform all of these operations, or perform other operations inaddition to these operations.

The preceding Summary is intended to serve as a brief introduction tosome embodiments of the invention. It is not meant to be an introductionor overview of all inventive subject matter disclosed in this document.The Detailed Description that follows and the Drawings that are referredto in the Detailed Description will further describe the embodimentsdescribed in the Summary as well as other embodiments. Accordingly, tounderstand all the embodiments described by this document, a full reviewof the Summary, Detailed Description and the Drawings is needed.Moreover, the claimed subject matters are not to be limited by theillustrative details in the Summary, Detailed Description and theDrawing, but rather are to be defined by the appended claims, becausethe claimed subject matters can be embodied in other specific formswithout departing from the spirit of the subject matters.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features of the invention are set forth in the appendedclaims. However, for purposes of explanation, several embodiments of theinvention are set forth in the following figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a device that executes an integratedmapping application of some embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of an integrated application adaptivelymodifying a floating control cluster.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of an integrated application adaptivelymodifying a floating control cluster.

FIG. 4 illustrates how the mapping application of some embodimentsprovides a 3D control as a quick mechanism of entering a 3D mode forviewing a map location in three dimensions.

FIG. 5 presents a simplified example to illustrate the concept of avirtual camera.

FIG. 6 conceptually illustrates a perspective adjustment featureprovided by a mapping application of some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates one example of two finger gestures for pushing down a2D map into a 3D map.

FIG. 8 illustrates a transition from a 2D map view to a 3d map view.

FIG. 9 illustrates that the mapping application of some embodimentschanges the appearance of the 3D control to indicate different 2D and 3Dstates of the map view.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of rotating a 2D map and using a compassto straighten the rotated map.

FIG. 11 illustrates another example of rotating a map in someembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates a rotation operation along with an inertia effect.

FIG. 13 illustrates a rotation operation along with an inertia effect.

FIG. 14 illustrates that the mapping application of some embodimentsuses novel techniques to adjust or leave unadjusted the text and/orsymbols that appear in the map view as the map view rotates.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of orienting text and/or symbols.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example in which the user transitions from the 3Dmap view to the 2D map view through two finger gesture operations.

FIG. 17 illustrates a zoom adjustment feature provided by the mappingapplication of some embodiments.

FIG. 18 conceptually illustrates a feature provided by the mappingapplication of some embodiments for maintaining the position of avirtual camera within a defined range along an arc.

FIG. 19 conceptually illustrates a processing, or map rendering,pipeline performed by the mapping application of some embodiments inorder to render a map for display at a client device.

FIG. 20 illustrates a user's interaction with the application running ona user's device in order to display the search table with a list of theuser's recent searches and recent route directions.

FIG. 21 illustrates an example of entering a search query in the searchfield and executing a search.

FIG. 22 illustrates an example of initiating a search query and theinstantaneous display of a search table with a list of recommendedsearch completions.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example of initiating a search query and theinstantaneous display of a search table with a list of recommendedsearch completions.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example of entering a partial address andobtaining directions to their home address as derived from their contactcard.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example of a user entering a partial search termand obtaining directions to their work address derived from theircontact card.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example of entering a partial search query andselecting a bookmark from the list of search completions in the searchtable.

FIG. 27 conceptually illustrates a process that some embodiments performto determine an order in which to display suggested search completionsfrom different sources in a search table.

FIG. 28 illustrates an example of running the mapping application on adevice that has relatively larger display area compared to a displayarea of a smaller device.

FIG. 29 illustrates an example architecture of a mapping applicationthat provides a list of suggested search completions based on the searchqueries.

FIG. 30 illustrates an example of clearing search results from a map.

FIG. 31 illustrates an example of a user's interaction with theapplication running on a user's device in order to clear a selectedsearch result displayed on the map.

FIG. 32 illustrates a process that some embodiments perform to determinethe particular type of transition to display between a user's currentmap view and a target map view that contains search results for a user'sexecuted search query.

FIG. 33 illustrates a process that some embodiments perform to determinewhether to modify the target region when the target region and theoriginal region initially defined by the mapping application at leastpartially overlaps.

FIG. 34 illustrates a process that some embodiments perform to determinewhether to display animation from the original region to the targetregion when (1) the target region and the original region initiallydefined by the mapping application at least partially overlaps and whenthe target region was considered for modification.

FIG. 35 illustrates a situation where the application displays atransition to a target map region containing a corresponding searchresult without providing any animation between the current map view andthe target map view.

FIG. 36 illustrates a situation where the application detects searchresults within the original current map view and thus does not need tozoom or animate to any new target map region.

FIG. 37 illustrates a situation where the search results in the targetmap view are not within an original region such that the applicationexpands the target region and displays an animation between the originalregion and the target region.

FIG. 38 conceptually illustrates a UI page for showing detailedinformation about a selected location.

FIG. 39 illustrates an example of the mapping application using 3Drending operation to show a particular search result.

FIG. 40 conceptually illustrates displaying an animation of thesatellite image of a location.

FIG. 41 illustrates displaying images of a location.

FIG. 42 conceptually illustrates a process that some embodiments performto display different types of images when a “stage” is launched forshowing detailed information about a location.

FIG. 43 illustrates scrolling off tabs.

FIG. 44 illustrates launching a third-party application when the userselects an entry displayed in an information display area.

FIG. 45 illustrates launching a third-party application when the userselects a UI item for the third-party application.

FIG. 46 illustrates the two mapping application instances running on twodifferent devices for two different users showing two different sets ofinformation for the same location.

FIG. 47 illustrates displaying a tag on a tab in a stage for a selectedlocation.

FIG. 48 illustrates a user's interaction with the mapping application ofsome embodiments to display a “stage” for a particular location.

FIG. 49 illustrates an example of a user's interaction with the mappingapplication to obtain routing directions.

FIG. 50 illustrates an example of a user's interaction with the mappingapplication to obtain routing directions.

FIG. 51 conceptually illustrates an example of displaying routingdirections in a display area of a device that is relatively large.

FIG. 52 illustrates scrolling through a set of scrollable instructionsigns for a particular route selected by the user.

FIG. 53 illustrates scrolling through the different scrollable signs.

FIG. 54 illustrates an example of displaying a set of scrollableinstructions signs for a particular route selected by a user.

FIG. 55 illustrates an example of the user's interaction with theapplication to switch to the overview mode while reviewing a selectedroute.

FIG. 56 conceptually illustrates a process that some embodiments performto allow a user to browse signs for a set of instructions for thejunctures in a route between a starting location and an ending location.

FIG. 57 illustrates an example of a device that executes the mappingapplication of some embodiments.

FIG. 58 illustrates how the navigation application of some embodimentsprovides the 3D control as a quick mechanism of entering a 3D navigatingmode.

FIG. 59 illustrates concept of a virtual camera.

FIG. 60 illustrates an example of a user's interaction with the mappingapplication to obtain routing directions.

FIG. 61 illustrates a device that displays a mapping application as theapplication transitions from a non-immersive map view for map browsinginto an immersive map view for navigation.

FIGS. 62A-62B conceptually illustrate a state diagram that describesdifferent states and transitions between these states of the integratedmapping, search, and navigation application of some embodiments.

FIG. 63 conceptually illustrates the mapping application of someembodiments that allows the user to report a problem.

FIG. 64 illustrates an example of reporting a problem by selecting anitem for reporting that the location information is incorrect.

FIG. 65 illustrates an example of reporting a problem by allowing theuser to select a UI item without having the user to make edits toprovide the correct information.

FIG. 66 illustrates an example of reporting a problem by selecting anitem for reporting that a point of interest's (POI's) information isincorrect.

FIG. 67 illustrates an example of reporting a problem by selecting anitem for reporting that a pin for a POI is at an incorrect location.

FIG. 68 illustrates an example of reporting a problem by selecting anitem for reporting that a pin for the POI is at an incorrect location.

FIG. 69 illustrates an example of reporting a problem by selecting anitem for reporting that a pin for the POI is at an incorrect location.

FIG. 70 illustrates an example of reporting a problem by selecting anitem for reporting that the POI does not exist at the location specifiedby the pin (not shown) in the map.

FIG. 71 illustrates an example of reporting a problem by selecting anitem for reporting a type of problem for which the problem reportingpage does not have a matching UI item that describes the problem theuser sees.

FIG. 72 conceptually the mapping application of some embodiments thatallows the user to report a problem from a map view.

FIG. 73 illustrates reporting a problem of incorrect search results.

FIG. 74 illustrates reporting a problem of incorrect pin location.

FIG. 75 illustrates an example of reporting a problem by selecting anitem for reporting that a particular piece of information on the map isincorrect.

FIG. 76 illustrates reporting a problem of missing location.

FIG. 77 illustrates reporting a problem of incorrect direction.

FIG. 78 illustrates a process that some embodiments perform to report aproblem with directions feature of the mapping application.

FIG. 79 illustrates dynamically adapting user interface menu items forreporting a problem.

FIG. 80 conceptually illustrates a process that some embodiments performto present a sequence of pages with different sets of UIs for reportingdifferent types of problems.

FIG. 81 illustrates an example of finding the status of a problem thatthe user has previously reported using the mapping application of someembodiments.

FIG. 82 illustrates a triaging tool of some embodiments that provides asthe single interface for a triager to use to perform the whole triagingprocess.

FIG. 83 illustrates a user interface that a triaging tool of someembodiments provides as the single interface for the triager to use toperform the whole triaging process.

FIG. 84 conceptually illustrates architecture for the server side aspectof the triage tool.

FIG. 85 conceptually illustrates a process that some embodiments performin order to communicate with one more map servers that provide map data.

FIG. 86 conceptually illustrates a process that some embodiments performto receive problem reports from devices that generate the problemreports.

FIG. 87 conceptually illustrates a process that some embodiments performin order to generate analytics from the database that includes data forproblems with map data.

FIG. 88 conceptually illustrates a process that some embodiments performto send problem reports to a triage server.

FIG. 89 is an example of an architecture of a mobile computing device.

FIG. 90 conceptually illustrates an example of an electronic system withwhich some embodiments of the invention are implemented.

FIG. 91 illustrates a map service operating environment, according tosome embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description of the invention, numerousdetails, examples, and embodiments of the invention are set forth anddescribed. However, it will be clear and apparent to one skilled in theart that the invention is not limited to the embodiments set forth andthat the invention may be practiced without some of the specific detailsand examples discussed.

Some embodiments of the invention provide an integrated mappingapplication that includes several useful modalities, including locationbrowsing, map searching, route identifying and route navigatingoperations. The mapping application in some embodiments is defined to beexecuted by a device that has a touch-sensitive screen that displays theoutput of the application. In some embodiments, this device has amulti-touch interface for allowing a user to provide touch and gesturalinputs through the screen to interact with the application. Examples ofsuch a device are smartphones (e.g., iPhone® sold by Apple Inc., phonesoperating the Android® operating system, phones operating the Windows 8®operating system, etc.).

Several detailed embodiments of the invention are described below.Section I describes UI controls and map browsing experience that themapping application of some embodiments provides. Section II thendescribes behaviors of the novel search field of the mappingapplication. Section III follows with a description of a novel UI forpresenting different types of details information about a location.Next, Section IV describes several different ways for the user to getroute directions from the mapping application. Section V then describesdifferent operational modes of the integrated mapping application ofsome embodiments. Section VI describes a problem-reporting feature ofthe mapping application and a triage tool that is used to triagereported problems. Section VII describes example electronic systems withwhich some embodiments of the invention are implemented. Finally,Section VIII describes a map service operating environment.

I. Map Browsing

A. General Controls

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a device 100 that executes anintegrated mapping application of some embodiments of the invention.This application has a novel user interface (UI) design that seamlesslyand cohesively integrates the controls for each of its differentmodalities by using a minimum set of on-screen controls that floats ontop of the content in order to display as much of the content aspossible. Additionally, this cluster adapts to the task at hand,adjusting its contents in an animated fashion when a user moves betweenthe different modalities (e.g., between browsing, searching, routing andnavigating). This common element with an adaptive nature enables themapping application to optimize for different tasks while maintaining aconsistent look and interaction model while moving between those tasks.

FIG. 1 shows three stages 105, 110, and 115 of interaction with themapping application. The first stage 105 shows device's UI 120, whichincludes several icons of several applications in a dock area 125 and ona page of the UI. One of the icons on this page is the icon for themapping application 130. The first stage shows a user's selection of themapping application through touch contact with the device's screen atthe location of this application on the screen.

The second stage 110 shows the device after the mapping application hasopened. As shown in this stage, the mapping application's UI has astarting page that in some embodiments (1) displays a map of the currentlocation of the device, and (2) several UI controls arranged in a topbar 140, and as floating controls. As shown in FIG. 1, the floatingcontrols include a position control 145, a 3D control 150, and a pagecurl control 155, while the top bar 140 includes a direction control160, a search field 165, and a bookmark control 170.

The direction control 160 opens a page through which a user can requesta route to be identified between a starting location and an endinglocation. As further described below, this control is one of threemechanisms through which the mapping application can be directed toidentify and display a route between two locations; the two othermechanisms are (1) a control in an information banner that is displayedfor a selected item in the map, and (2) recent routes identified by thedevice that are displayed in the search field 165. Accordingly, theinformation banner control and the search field 165 are two UI toolsthat the application employs to make the transition between thedifferent modalities seamless.

In some embodiments, a user can initiate a search by tapping in thesearch field 165. This directs the application to present an animationthat (1) presents an on-screen keyboard and (2) opens a search tablefull of invaluable completions. This table has some importantsubtleties. When the search field is tapped and before the terms areedited, or when the search field is empty, the table contains a list of“recents,” which in some embodiments are recent searches and routedirections that the user has requested. This makes it very easy toquickly bring up recently accessed results.

After any edit in the search field, the table is filled with searchcompletions both from local sources (e.g., bookmarks, contacts, recentsearches, recent route directions, etc.) and remote servers. Someembodiments, however, include recent route directions only when the userhas not yet entered any text into the search field. Once text isentered, the mapping application removes recent route directions fromthe search completions table. The incorporation of the user's contactcard into the search interface adds additional flexibility to thedesign. When showing recents, a route from current location to theuser's home is always offered in some embodiments, while it is offeredin the contexts that are deemed to be “appropriate” in otherembodiments. Also, when the search term matches at least part of anaddress label (e.g., ‘ork’ for ‘Work’), the application presents theuser's labeled address as a completion in the search table in someembodiments. Together these behaviors make the search UI a very powerfulway to get results onto a map from a variety of sources. In addition toallowing a user to initiate a search, the presence of the text field inthe primary map view in some embodiments also allows users to see thequery corresponding to search results on the map and to remove thosesearch results by clearing the query.

The bookmark control 170 (e.g., button) allows location and routes to bebookmarked by the application. The position control 145 allows thecurrent position of the device to be specifically noted on the map. Oncethis position control is selected, the application maintains the currentposition of the device in the center of the map as the device is movingin some embodiments. In some embodiments, it can also identify thedirection to which the device currently points. The mapping applicationof some embodiments identifies the location of the device using thecoordinates (e.g., longitudinal, altitudinal, and latitudinalcoordinates) in the GPS signal that the device receives at the locationof the device. Alternatively or conjunctively, the mapping applicationuses other methods (e.g., cell tower triangulation) to compute thecurrent location.

The 3D control 150 is a control for viewing map or inspecting a route inthree dimensions (3D). The mapping application provides the 3D controlas a quick mechanism of getting into and out of 3D. This control alsoserves as (1) an indicator that the current view is a 3D view, and (2)an indicator that a 3D perspective is available for a given map view(e.g., a map view that is zoomed out might not have a 3D viewavailable). In some embodiments, the 3D control 150 provides at leastthree different appearances corresponding to some of these indications.For instance, the 3D control gets colored grey when the 3D view of themap is unavailable, black when the 3D view is available but the map isin the 2D view, and blue when the map is in the 3D view. In someembodiments, the 3D control has a fourth appearance (e.g., a buttonshowing a building image or shape) when the immersive 3D mappresentation is available at a given zoom level. Immersive andnon-immersive 3D presentations are described further in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/632,035, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,111,380,entitled “Rendering Maps,” concurrently filed with this application.This concurrently filed U.S. Patent Application is incorporated hereinby reference.

The page curl control 155 is a control that allows the application tominimize the number of on-screen controls, by placing certain lessfrequently used actions in a secondary UI screen, which is accessiblethrough the “page curl” control displayed on the map. In someembodiments, the page curl is permanently displayed on at least some ofthe map views that the application provides. For instance, in someembodiments, the application displays the page curl permanently on thestarting page (illustrated in second stage 110) that it provides forallowing a user to browse or search a location or to identify a route.

The page curl indicates the location of another set of controls that areconceptually “behind” the current view. When the page curl control 155is selected, the application present an animation that “peels” off thecurrent view to display another view that shows the other set ofcontrols. The third stage 115 illustrates an example of such ananimation. As shown by this stage, the “peeling” of the starting pagereveals several controls, which in this example are the drop pin, print,show traffic, list, standard, satellite, and hybrid controls. In someembodiments, these controls perform the same operations as similarcontrols do in currently available smartphones, such as iPhonesoperating iOS®.

The use of the page curl allows the application to display more of themap while offering an unobtrusive way to access further functionalitythat is provided by the other set of controls. Additionally, in someembodiments, the application does not use the page curl in map viewswhere the additional functionality is deemed to be inappropriate to thetask at hand. For instance, in some embodiments, the application doesnot display this page curl while presenting the map view duringnavigation.

Also, the third stage 115 illustrates that the user drags a corner or anedge of the page to peel off the page in some embodiments. However, inother embodiments, the animation that peels off the page is displayed bysimply tapping the page curl control 155 without dragging the corner orthe edge.

B. Adaptive Button Cluster

As mentioned above, the mapping application in some embodimentsadaptively adds and removes controls to the floating control cluster setin order to adapt this cluster to the different tasks while maintaininga consistent look and interaction model between those tasks. FIG. 2illustrates an example of the application adaptively modifying thefloating control cluster to add and remove a list view control 235. Thisexample is provided in the context of using the direction indicator 160to obtain a route between two locations.

This example is also provided in terms of six stages 205-530 ofinteractions with the mapping application. The first stage 205illustrates the selection of the direction indicator 160. The secondstage 210 next illustrates the selection of a route generation control240 after the user has entered starting and ending locations for theroute in the starting and ending fields 245 and 250. The second stage210 also shows that the mapping application is displaying severalrecently used route generation requests below the fields for enteringthe starting and ending locations.

The third stage 215 shows two routes 260 and 261 that the mappingapplication has identified for the provided starting and endinglocations. In some embodiments, the mapping application highlights oneof the routes to indicate that the highlighted route is a default routethat the mapping application recommends. This stage also illustrate thestart of an animation that shows the list view control 235 sliding outfrom under the 3D icon 150. When there are opportunities to display alist of items, be it a list of instructions in a route or a list ofsearch results when multiple results are found for a given query, themapping application of some embodiments displays a list control as oneof the floating controls. Tapping the list control brings up a modallist view in some embodiments. Having a modal list view keeps themapping application simple and the map front and center. In someembodiments, the list view itself is adapted and optimized for the typeof list being displayed, in that search results will be displayed withstar ratings when available and route steps will include instructionalarrows.

The fourth stage 220 shows the selection of a clear control 255 to clearthe identified routes 260 and 261 from the illustrated map. In responseto this selection, the routes 260 and 261 are removed from the map andan animation starts to show the list control 235 sliding back under the3D control 150, as illustrated in the fifth stage 225. The sixth stage230 shows the application UI after the animation has ended and the listcontrol has been removed from the floating control set.

Another floating control that the mapping application of someembodiments employs is a compass. FIG. 3 illustrates an example of theapplication adaptively modifying the floating control cluster to add andremove a compass 300. This example is provided in the context of usingthe position control 145 to view the current position and orientation ofthe device on the map presented by the device. In some embodiments, theposition control 145 can cause the mapping application to operate inthree different states. For instance, when the position control 145 isnot selected, the mapping application displays a map view. Uponreceiving a first selection of the position control 145, the mappingapplication shifts the map to display a region of the map that includesthe current location of the device in the center of the region. Themapping application of some embodiments, from then on, tracks thecurrent location of the device as the device moves.

In some embodiments, the mapping application maintains the currentlocation indicator in the center of the display area and shifts the mapfrom one region to another as the device moves from one region toanother region. Upon receiving a second selection of the positioncontrol 145 while the mapping application is maintaining the currentlocation of the device in the center of the displayed region, themapping application displays a simulated light projection in the mapfrom the identified current position in the direction that the devicecurrently faces. When the position control 145 is selected again whilethe mapping application is displaying a simulated light projection, themapping application returns back to the state that was before receivingthe first selection. That is, the projection will disappear and thecurrent position of the device is not tracked.

The example illustrated in this figure is provided in terms of fivestages 305-325 of interactions with the mapping application. The firststage 305 illustrates that the mapping application is displaying a mapregion that happens to not include the current location of the device(i.e., the current location indicator is not displayed in the mapregion).

The second stage 310 illustrates the position control 145 being selectedonce. As mentioned above, the first selection of the position control145 will result in shifting the map to display a map region that has thecurrent location indicator 326 in the center. The third stage 315 showsthe result of selecting the position control 145. Some embodimentsidentify the device's current position by using the current locationindicator 326. The current location indicator 326 has differentappearances in different embodiments. For instance, the current locationindicator 326 of some embodiments has appearance of a colored dot (e.g.,a blue dot) on the map. Identification of the current position is usefulwhen the user has explored (e.g., through gestural swipe operation) thedisplayed map such that the device is not currently displaying theuser's current location on the map.

The fourth stage 320 illustrates the position control 145 being selectedagain. The second selection of the position control 145 in someembodiments will cause the application to display a simulated lightprojection 345 in the map from the identified current position 326 inthe direction that the device currently faces. This projection helps theuser identifies the direction that the device faces at any time. In someembodiments, this projection always points towards the top of the device(i.e., the location along which the search field 165 is positioned whilethe device is held in the portrait direction).

This projection 345 is illustrated in the fifth stage 310. This stagealso shows that in this mode, the mapping application presents afloating compass 300. This compass serves as an indicator that the usercan use to identify the direction to the North Pole. In someembodiments, this compass is in the shape of two isosceles trianglesthat abut at their bases, with one of the triangles pointing north (in adirection away from the abutting bases) and having a color (e.g.,orange) that differentiates it from the other triangle. As furtherdescribed below, the compass can also be use to restore a north-uporientation after the user has rotated a 2D or 3D view of the map. Insome embodiments, the compass may remain in the map view after themapping application receives another selection of the position control145. In some embodiments, the compass will not disappear until themapping application receives a user input to remove the compass (e.g.,selection of the compass).

The fifth stage 325 also shows that the map has rotated to maintain theprojection's direction to the top of the device. This is because thedevice has been facing a different direction than the direction to thetop of the device in the previous stage 320. As the direction of thedevice moves, so will the direction of the compass 300 with respect tothe top of the device. The compass has moved to indicate the device isfacing a northwest direction.

In some embodiments, the mapping application changes the appearance ofthe position control 145 once after the first selection and another timeafter the second selection. The fifth stage 325 shows the appearance ofthe position control 145 after the second selection, which is differentthan the appearance of the position control 145 after the firstselection.

C. 2D or 3D

1. 3D Button

The mapping application in some embodiments can display a location inthe map in either a 2D mode or a 3D mode. It also allows the user tobrowse a location in the map in either a 2D mode or a 3D mode. Asmentioned above, one of the floating controls is the 3D control 150 thatallows a user to view a map or inspect a route in three dimensions (3D).This control also serves as (1) an indicator that the current view is a3D view, and (2) an indicator that a 3D perspective is available for agiven map view (e.g., a map view that is zoomed out might not have a 3Dview available).

FIG. 4 illustrates how the mapping application of some embodimentsprovides the 3D control 150 as a quick mechanism of entering a 3D modefor viewing a map location in three dimensions. This figure illustratesthis operation in four stages 405-420. The first stage 405 illustratesthe user selecting the 3D control 150 while viewing a two-dimensionalpresentation of an area about the user's current location 425. The topbar, the floating controls, and the page curl are not depicted in thisfigure for simplicity of description.

The second stage 410 shows a three dimensional presentation of theuser's current location on the map. As mentioned above, the mappingapplication generates the 3D view of the map in some embodiments byrendering the map view from a particular position in the threedimensional scene that can be conceptually thought of as the position ofa virtual camera that is capturing the map view. This rendering will befurther described below by reference to FIG. 5.

The third stage 415 shows the user browsing about the current locationby performing a swipe operation (e.g., by dragging a finger across thetouch-sensitive screen of the device). This swipe operation changes the3D map view presented on the device to display a new location on the 3Dmap. This new location is illustrated in the fourth stage 420.

In some embodiments, the mapping application presents the 3D view of themap while the mapping application is operating in a navigation mode(i.e., while the mapping application is presenting turn-by-turnnavigation view). In order to provide visual distinction between the 3Dview of the map during navigation and the 3D view of the map during mapbrowsing, the mapping application of some embodiments use differentstylesheets that define rendered graphics differently. For instance, themapping application of some embodiments uses a stylesheet that definesgrey colors for buildings, white colors for roads, and rounded cornersfor blocks in the 3D view of the map during map browsing. The mappingapplication of some embodiment uses a stylesheet that defines whitecolors for buildings, grey colors for roads, and sharp corners forblocks in the 3D view of the map during navigation. In some embodiments,the mapping application applies these stylesheets to the same map tilesfor a given region of the map. In other embodiments, the mappingapplication applies these stylesheets to different map tiles (e.g., maptiles, navigation tiles, etc.) for the given region. Using stylesheetsto render maps are further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/632,035, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,111,380, entitled “RenderingMaps,” concurrently filed with this application. This concurrently filedU.S. Patent Application is incorporated herein by reference.

2. Virtual Camera

FIG. 5 presents a simplified example to illustrate the concept of avirtual camera 505. When rendering a 3D map, a virtual camera is aconceptualization of the position in the 3D map scene from which thedevice renders the scene to generate a 3D view of the map. FIG. 5illustrates a location in a 3D map scene 535 that includes four objects,which are two buildings and two intersecting roads. To illustrate thevirtual camera concept, this figure illustrates three scenarios, each ofwhich corresponds to a different virtual camera location (i.e., adifferent rendering position) and a different resulting view that isdisplayed on the device.

The first stage 510 shows the virtual camera at a first perspectiveposition pointing downwards towards the 3D scene at a first angle (e.g.,−30°). In this position, the camera is pointing to a location that maybe a stationary position of the device or of a location being explored,or a moving position in front of a moving location of the device in acase where the map is used for navigation. In some embodiments, thedefault position of the camera is to be at a particular orientation withrespect to the current location, but this orientation can be modifiedwhen the user rotates the map. Rendering the 3D scene from the firstangle results in the 3D map view 525.

The second stage 515 shows the virtual camera at a different secondperspective position pointing downwards towards the scene at a largersecond angle (e.g., −45°). Rendering the 3D scene from this angleresults in the 3D map view 530 the buildings and the roads smaller thantheir illustration in the first map view 525.

The third stage 520 shows the virtual camera at a top-down view thatlooks downwards on a location on a 2D map 545 that corresponds to thelocation in the 3D map scene 535 that was used to render the 3D views525 and 530. The scene that is rendered from this perspective is the 2Dmap view 540. Unlike the 3D rendering operations of the first and secondstages that in some embodiments are perspective 3D rendering operations,the rendering operation in the third stage is relatively simple as itonly needs to crop a portion of the 2D map that is identified by a zoomlevel specified by the application or the user. Accordingly, the virtualcamera characterization in this situation somewhat unnecessarilycomplicates the description of the operation of the application ascropping a portion of a 2D map is not a perspective rendering operation.

As in the third stage 520, the mapping application in some embodimentsswitches from rendering a 3D scene from a particular perspectivedirection to cropping a 2D scene when the camera switches from the 3Dperspective view to a 2D top-down view. This is because in theseembodiments, the application is designed to use a simplified renderingoperation that is easier and that does not generate unnecessaryperspective artifacts. In other embodiments, however, the mappingapplication uses a perspective rendering operation to render a 3D scenefrom a top-down virtual camera position. In these embodiments, the 2Dmap view that is generated is somewhat different than the map view 540illustrated in the third stage 520, because any object that is away fromthe center of the view is distorted, with the distortions being more,the further the object's distance from the center of the view.

The virtual camera 505 moves along different trajectories or arcs indifferent embodiments. Two such trajectories 550 and 555 are illustratedin FIG. 5. In both these trajectories, the camera moves in an arc androtates more downward as the camera moves upwards on the arc. Thetrajectory 555 differs from the trajectory 550 in that, in thetrajectory 555, the camera moves backwards from the current location asit moves up the arc.

While moving along one of the arcs, the camera rotates to maintain adesired location on the map at the focal point of the camera. Thedesired location in some cases is a stationary location of the device ora stationary location that the user is browsing on the map. In othercases, the desired location is a moving location in front of the movinglocation of the device as the user is moving with the device.

Besides (or instead of) having the navigation application control thecamera (e.g., turning from 3D to 2D when going around corners) someembodiments also allow the user to adjust the position of the camera.Some embodiments allow the user to make a command gesture with twofingers to adjust the distance (height) and angle of the camera. Someembodiments even allow multiple types of gestures to control the camera.

FIG. 6 conceptually illustrates a perspective adjustment featureprovided by a mapping application of some embodiments. Specifically,FIG. 6 illustrates a virtual camera 600 at three different stages605-615 that show the adjustment of the virtual camera 600's position inresponse to a perspective adjustment. As shown, FIG. 6 illustrates alocation in a 3D map 635 that includes four objects, which are twobuildings and two intersecting roads.

The first stage 605 shows the virtual camera 600 at a first perspectiveposition pointing downwards towards the 3D map 635 at a first angle(e.g., 45 degrees) with respect to the horizon. In this position, thecamera 600 is pointing to a location that may be a stationary positionof the device or of a location being explored, or a moving position infront of a moving location of the device in a case where the map is usedfor navigation. In some embodiments, the default position of the camera600 is to be at a particular orientation with respect to the currentlocation, but this orientation can be modified when the user rotates themap. Rendering a 3D map view of based on the virtual camera 600'sposition results in the 3D map view 625.

The second stage 610 shows the virtual camera 600 at a different secondperspective position pointing at a lower perspective towards the 3D map635 at a smaller second angle (e.g., 30 degrees) with respect to thehorizon. The stage 610 also shows that a user has provided input toadjust the perspective of the view of the 3D map 635 by touching twofingers on the screen and dragging the two fingers in an upwarddirection (e.g., a swipe gesture). The scene rising is accomplished bythe virtual camera 600 lowering and decreasing the viewing angle withrespect to the horizon. Rendering a 3D map view using the virtual camera600 positioned at this angle results in a 3D map view 630 in which thebuildings and the roads are taller than their illustration in the firstmap view 625. As indicated by the dashed-line version of the virtualcamera 600, the virtual camera 600 moved farther downwards along arc 650while tilting (e.g., pitching) farther up.

The third stage 615 shows the virtual camera 600 at a different thirdperspective position pointing at a higher perspective towards a location(e.g., the virtual camera 600's point of focus) on the 3D map 635 at alarger third angle (e.g., 80°) with respect to the horizon. The stage615 also shows that the user has provided input to adjust theperspective of the view of the 3D map 635 by touching two fingers on thescreen and dragging the two fingers in a downward direction (e.g., aswipe gesture). The scene dropping or flattening out is accomplished bythe virtual camera 600 rising and increasing its angle with respect tothe horizon. As shown at this stage 615, in some embodiments, themapping application flattens the buildings (e.g., reduces the z-axiscomponent of the polygons to the ground level) in the 3D map 635 whenthe virtual camera 600 is positioned in a top-down or near top-downposition so that 3D map views rendered using the virtual camera 600appear 2D. Rendering a 3D map view using the virtual camera 600positioned at the angle in the third stage 615 results in a 3D map view640 in which the buildings appear smaller, flatter and the roads appearsmaller than their illustration in the second map view 630. As shown bythe dashed-line version of the virtual camera 600, the virtual camera600 moved farther upwards along arc 650 while tilting (e.g., pitching)farther down.

In some embodiments, the virtual camera 600 can be made to move in thismanner when the mapping application receives input for adjusting theperspective for viewing the 3D map 635. In some of these embodiments,the mapping application switches to a top-down mode (where the renderingposition faces straight down) that produces 2D map views when the zoomlevel reaches a particular zoom out level.

While moving along an arc, the virtual camera rotates to maintain adesired location on the map at the focal point of the camera. Thedesired location in some cases is a stationary location of the device ora stationary location that the user is browsing on the map. In othercases, the desired location is a moving location in front of the movinglocation of the device as the user is moving with the device.

3. Gesture to Enter or Exit 3D

In addition to the 3D control, the mapping application of someembodiments allows a user to transition a map view from atwo-dimensional (2D) presentation to a 3D presentation through gesturalinputs of the multi-touch interface of the device. For instance, througha two finger gestural input, the user can be made to experience“pushing” down a 2D map view into a 3D map view, or “pulling” up a 3Dmap view into a 2D map view. This can also be thought of as pulling downa virtual camera from a 2D (directly from above) view into a 3D (sideangle) view through the two-finger gesture.

Different embodiment use different two finger gestural operations topush down a 2D map view into a 3D map view, or pull up a 3D map viewinto a 2D map view. FIG. 7 illustrates one example of two fingergestures for pushing down a 2D map into a 3D map. This figure presentsthis example in terms of four stages of operation of the UI of themapping application. The first stage 705 shows the application UIpresenting a 2D map view about a current location 725 of the device.

The second stage 710 then shows the start of a two finger gestureoperation to push down the 2D view 740 until a 3D view is presented. Insome embodiments, the application identifies a push down of the 2D mapwhen it detects that two contacts are placed horizontally orapproximately horizontally on a 2D map and move upwards together. Someembodiments require the movement to exceed a certain amount in order toimpose an inertia that acts against the pushing of a 2D map into a 3Dmap, and thereby prevent such a transition to occur accidentally.

Other embodiments use other schemes to transition from a 2D map to a 3Dmap through a gestural input. For instance, the application of someembodiments performs such a transition when a user places two fingersvertically with respect to each other and exerts a greater force on thetop finger so as to trigger one of the sensors of the device (e.g.,gyroscope, etc.) or to trigger a rotation of the fingers. Yet otherembodiments require an opposite operation to be performed to transitionfrom the 2D map view to a 3D map view. For instance, some embodimentsrequire the two horizontally aligned fingers to move downwards on the 2Dmap in unison in order to push down the 2D view into a 3D view.

The third stage 715 shows the two fingers of the user after they havemoved up by a certain amount across the device's screen. It also showsthat the 2D map 740 has been replaced with a 3D map 745. The fourthstage 720 shows the 3D map 745 at the end of the two finger gesturemovement. The 3D control 150 appears highlighted in this stage toindicate that the current map view is a 3D map view.

In some embodiments, a 3D map view can be pulled up into a 2D map viewby performing the opposite two-finger operation. Specifically, in theseembodiments, the mapping application transitions between a 3D map and a2D map when it detects two horizontal or approximately horizontalcontacts on a 3D map that move downwards in unison by an amount greaterthan a threshold amount.

D. Animation when Entering and Exiting 3D

When transitioning from a 2D map view to a 3D map view, some embodimentsprovide an animation that shows object that appear as flat in the 2D mapview as rising and becoming larger in the 3D map view. Generating suchanimation that shows object rising/falling and becoming larger/smalleris further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/632,027, nowpublished as as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0071119A1,entitled “Displaying 3D Objects in a 3D Map Presentation,” concurrentlyfiled with this application. This concurrently filed U.S. PatentApplication is incorporated herein by reference. FIG. 8 illustrates thisanimation in three stages. The first stage 805 shows a user selectingthe 3D control 150 when viewing a 2D map view. The second and thirdstages 810 and 815 show subsequent views (though not necessarilysuccessive views) that the mapping application provides after it startsto provide a 3D map view. As the zoom in level increases between thesecond and third stages, the height of the buildings in the map viewsincreases to provide an animation that conveys that the view is movinginto the 3D scene from the 2D view.

When transitioning from the 3D view to the 2D view, the mappingapplication of some embodiments provides an opposite animation thatshows the objects in the scene shrinking until they collapse into flatobjects in a 2D map.

In some embodiments, the mapping application provides a transition from2D to 3D or from 3D to 2D while the mapping application operates in thenavigation mode or in the route inspection mode. These two operationalmodes of the mapping application are described further below.

FIG. 9 illustrates in six different stages 905-930 that the mappingapplication of some embodiments changes the appearance of the 3D controlto indicate different 2D and 3D states of the map view. The first stage905 illustrates that the mapping application is displaying a map and thefloating controls including the 3D control 150. The mapping applicationis displaying the map in 2D at a certain low zoom level (map has notbeen zoomed in much) as shown. The 3D control 150 is displayed using afirst appearance (e.g., grey letters “3D”) to indicate the 3D map datais not available at this particular zoom level. The first stage 905 alsoshows that the mapping application is receiving the user's gesturalinput to zoom in the map (i.e., to increase the zoom level).

The second stage 910 shows that the mapping application is displayingthe map at a higher zoom level than it did at the previous stage 905.However, the 3D control 150 is maintaining the first appearance becausethe 3D map data is still not available even at this particular higherzoom level. The second stage 910 also shows that the mapping applicationis receiving another gestural input to zoom in the map further.

The third stage 915 shows that the mapping application is displaying themap at a higher zoom level than it did at the previous stage 910. Themapping application has changed the appearance of the 3D control 150into a second appearance (e.g., “3D” in black letters) to indicate thatthe 3D map data is available at this zoom level. When the mappingapplication receives a selection of the 3D control 150, the mappingapplication of some embodiments would change the appearance of the 3Dcontrol 150 to a third appearance (e.g., “3D” in blue letters) anddisplay the map in 3D (e.g., by changing into a perspective view from astraight-down view for 2D). The third appearance therefore wouldindicate that the map is displayed in 3D. The third stage 915 shows thatthe mapping application is receiving yet another gestural input to zoomin the map even further to a higher zoom level. The third stage 915shows that the mapping application of some embodiments is displayingbuildings in the map as grey boxes.

The fourth stage 920 shows that the mapping application is displayingthe map at a higher zoom level than it did at the previous stage 915.The mapping application has changed the appearance of the 3D control 150into a fourth appearance (e.g., a building icon in a first color asshown) in order to indicate that 3D immersive map data for renderingimmersive 3D map view are available at this zoom level. The fourth stage920 also shows that the mapping application is receiving a selection ofthe 3D control 150.

The fifth and sixth stages 925 and 930 show subsequent views (though notnecessarily successive views) that the mapping application providesafter it starts to provide a 3D immersive map view. The zoom level doesnot change between the fifth and sixth stages in some embodiments butthe height of the buildings in the map views increases to provide ananimation that conveys that the view is moving into the 3D immersive mapview from the 2D view. Also, from the stage 920 to 925, the mappingapplication has changed the appearance of the 3D control into the fifthappearance (e.g., a building icon in a second color as shown) in orderto indicate that the map is displayed in the 3D immersive view.

E. Browsing

1. Swipe

The mapping application allows a user to explore about a location thatis shown in the map through a variety of mechanisms in some embodiments.For instance, as mentioned above, the mapping application of someembodiments allows a user to browse about a location by performing oneor more swipe operations (e.g., by dragging a finger) across thetouch-sensitive screen of the device. Such operations move the viewpresented by the application to new locations on the map. One example ofthe swipe operation in 3D map view was described above by reference toFIG. 4.

2. Rotation

Through gestural inputs, the mapping application also allows a user torotate a 2D or 3D map in some embodiments. The mapping application insome embodiments is a vector mapping application that allows for directmanipulations (such as rotation and 2D/3D manipulations) of the mapwhile browsing it. However, some of the effects to the map can bedisorienting. Without an easy way to get back to north-up orientation(i.e., an orientation where the north direction is aligned with the topof the device), some users may have difficulty interacting with the mapviews. To solve this, the mapping application of some embodimentsprovides the floating compass control on the map. As mentioned, thiscompass serves both as an indicator that points to north and as a buttonto restore a north-up orientation. To further minimize clutter on themap, the mapping application only shows this button when the map isrotated.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of rotating a 2D map and using thecompass to straighten the rotated map in some embodiments of theinvention. This figure illustrates this example in four stages. Thefirst stage 1005 illustrates a 2D map view 1025. The second stage 1010illustrates the rotation of this map view through a two finger gesture.A user performs the gesture in this example by placing two fingers onthe map view and pulling one finger down while pushing one finger up.This rotational motion of the fingers causes the application to rotatethe map into the rotated map view 1030. In some embodiments, the mappingapplication computes the midpoint between the two fingers and uses it asan anchor point for the rotation. In some such embodiments, the mappingapplication uses a position of non-moving finger as an anchor point ifone of the two fingers does not move. In some embodiments, the mappingapplication uses the location of the position control 326 as an anchorpoint for the rotation when the position control is present in the view(e.g. by a selection of the position control 145) regardless of thefinger locations.

The second stage 1010 also shows that in response to the rotation of themap, the application has presented the compass 300 on the map toindicate the north direction on the rotated map. The third stage 1015then shows the user's selection of the compass 300. The fourth stage1020 then shows that after the selection of the compass, the applicationrotates the map back to the map view 1025 (i.e., north-up orientation).

FIG. 11 illustrates another example of rotating a map in someembodiments of the invention. This figure illustrates this example infour stages 1105-1120. In this example, the map is a 3D map. Hence, thefirst stage 1105 illustrates a 3D map view 1105. The second stage 1110illustrates the rotation of this map view through a two finger gesture.As before, the user performs the gesture in this example by placing twofingers on the map view and pulling one finger down while pushing onefinger up. This rotational motion of the fingers causes the applicationto rotate the map into the rotated map view 1130. In this example, therotation is about the current position of the device because, asmentioned above, the current location indicator 326 is present in themap view 1125.

The second stage 1110 also shows that in response to the rotation of themap, the application has presented the compass 300 on the map toindicate the north direction on the rotated map. The third stage 1115then shows further rotation of the map in response to user's another twofinger gesture. The compass 300 still indicates the north direction buthas rotated along with the rotated map. The fourth stage 1120 then showseven further rotation of the map and the compass 300.

In some embodiments, the mapping application does not allow the user torotate a 2D or 3D map at some zoom levels. For instance, when the map iszoomed out (to a low zoom level), the mapping application does notrotate the map upon receiving the user's gestural input (e.g., twofigure rotation operation) to rotate the map. In some embodiments, amodule of the mapping application that is responsible for the virtualcamera movement checks the current zoom level and decides to ignore suchinstructions if the map should not be rotated at the current zoom level.

In some other embodiments, the application rotates the map a particulardistance when the user provides the gestural input for rotating the map,but rotates the map back to a default orientation (e.g., North) when theuser releases or stops the gestural input.

In some embodiments, the mapping application provides an inertia effectfor rotation of a map. When a user provides a particular type ofgestural input (e.g., input that terminates at an angular ortranslational velocity greater than a threshold velocity) to rotate themap, the mapping application generates an inertia effect that causes themap to continue rotating and decelerate to a stop. The inertia effect insome embodiments provides the user with a more realistic interactionwith the map that mimics behaviors in the real world.

FIG. 12 illustrates at three different stages 1205-1215 the rotationoperation along with an inertia effect for the rotation operation. Theinertia effect is shown in terms of 2D map views in this figure forsimplicity of illustration. However, the mapping application of someembodiments provides the inertia effect when the map is viewed in the 3Dmode. The first stage 1205 shows a 2D map view 1220 of a 2D map. In someembodiments, the mapping application performs the process 1300 describedbelow by reference to FIG. 13 to perform the rotation operation.

As shown, the 2D map view 1220 includes several streets running in aparallel or perpendicular directions. The first stage 1205 also showsthat a user is providing input to rotate the 2D map view 1220.Specifically, the user is performing a gesture to rotate the 2D map view1220 by touching two fingers at two locations on the touchscreen androtating the two fingers in a clockwise direction, as indicated by thetwo arrows depicted in the figure. In this example, the highlighting ofthe fingertips are illustrated for purposes of explanation. In someembodiments, the mapping application does not actually display thehighlighting around the fingertips.

The second stage 1210 shows the 2D map immediately after the user hascompleted the input to rotate the 2D map. For this example, the usercompleted the input by lifting the two fingers off the touchscreen ofthe device, as indicated by the highlighting around the fingertips nolonger shown. In addition, the second stage 1210 shows a 2D map view1225 of the 2D map rendered by the mapping application. As shown, themapping application has rotated the 2D map in a clockwise direction fromthe 2D map view 1220 to the 2D map view 1225. The streets shown in thefirst stage 1205 have rotated approximately 45 degrees in clockwisedirection.

The mapping application of different embodiments utilizes differentmethods to implement an inertia effect for a rotation operation. Forinstance, in some embodiments, the mapping application determines anangular (or translational) velocity of the user's input at or near theinstance at which the user stops the movement of the fingers or liftsthe fingers from the touchscreen, based on one of the fingers or anaverage of both of the fingers. When the user repeats stopping thefigures without lifting and starting to move the fingers again, themapping application of some embodiments treats each stop as an end of aninput while in other embodiments the mapping application treats it asone input until the user lifts the fingers from the screen.

The mapping application uses the angular velocity to determine an angleamount (e.g., degrees) for the inertia effect and determines the mannerat which the virtual camera used to view the 2D map decelerates (e.g.,constant, exponential, logarithmic, etc.) the angular velocity to rotatethe determined angle amount. In some embodiments, the mappingapplication renders and displays an animation of the inertia effect(e.g., a decelerating rotation of the 2D map from the 2D map view 1225that rotates the 2D map the determined angle amount).

In some embodiments, the mapping application does not itself analyze theuser's gestural inputs. For instance, the mapping application of theseembodiments does not determine the angular velocity of the user's input.Instead, the mapping application of these embodiments receives theangular velocity determined by the operating system of the device onwhich the mapping application runs. The operating system of the devicehas an interface to receive the user's gestural inputs. The operatingsystem analyzes the received inputs and provides the analysis to themapping application. The mapping application will determine the inertiaeffect to apply based on the analysis of the inputs.

The third stage 1215 illustrates the 2D map after the mappingapplication has rendered and displayed the animation of the inertiaeffect. As shown, a 2D map view 1230 of the 3D map rendered by themapping application is displayed. In the third stage 1215, the mappingapplication has rotated the 2D map farther clockwise after the usercompleted the input in the second stage 1210. As shown, the 2D map view1230 in the third stage 1215 shows the streets rotated farther clockwisefrom the streets shown in the 3D map view 1225.

In some embodiments, the mapping application also provides the inertiaeffect for operations other than rotating the map such as panning themap or entering or exiting 3D operations (e.g. panning, rotate, enteringfrom 2D to 3D). Inertia effect for these other operations are furtherdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/632,035, now issued asU.S. Pat. No. 9,111,380, entitled “Rendering Maps,” concurrently filedwith this application. This concurrently filed U.S. Patent Applicationis incorporated herein by reference. FIG. 13 conceptually illustrates aprocess 1300 of some embodiments for rotating a map view based ongesture input. In some embodiments, the mapping application performs theprocess 1300 when the mapping application is in a map viewing mode(e.g., a location browsing mode, a navigation mode, a 2D viewing mode, a3D viewing mode, etc.) and the mapping application receives a gesturethrough a touchscreen of a device on which the mapping application isexecuting.

The process 1300 starts by receiving (at 1310) a gesture for rotatingthe map view. In some embodiments, a gesture for rotating the map viewincludes a multi-touch gesture received through a touchscreen (e.g.,simultaneously touching the touchscreen with multiple fingers). In thisexample, the process 1300 receives a two-touch rotate gesture.

Next, the process 1300 identifies (at 1320) a rotation component of thereceived gesture. The process 1300 of some embodiments identifies therotation component of the gesture by identifying an amount of rotationof the gesture's touch points. For instance, in some such embodiments,the process 1300 identifies the amount of rotation of the gesture'stouch points by (1) determining a first vector from the initial locationof one touch point to the initial location of the other touch point, (2)determining a second vector from a second location of the one touchpoint to a second location of the other touch point, and (3) determininga rotation direction based on the initial locations of the touch pointsand the second locations of the touch points.

The process 1300 then determines (at 1330) whether the amount ofrotation is within a threshold amount. When the process 1300 determinesthat the amount of rotation is not within the threshold amount, theprocess 1300 ends. Otherwise, the process 1300 determines (at 1340) anaxis of rotation based on the gesture. In some embodiments, the process1300 determines the axis of rotation by (1) identifying a point along avector from the initial location of one touch point to the initiallocation of the other touch point and (2) determining a point on mapview that corresponds to the point along the vector (e.g., the point onthe map that coincides with the point along the vector). The process1300 uses the determined point on the map view as the location of anaxis (e.g., a z-axis) about which the map view is rotated.

Next, the process 1300 adjusts (at 1350) the map view based on the axisof rotation and the amount of rotation. In some embodiments, the process1300 adjusts the map view by rotating the map view about the determinedaxis of rotation by the determined amount of rotation in the determinedrotation direction. Different embodiments use different coordinatespaces for a map. For example, the map of some embodiments uses aMercator unit coordinate space. In such embodiments, the process 1300adjusts the virtual camera's position with respect to the map in orderto adjust the map view. As another example, in some embodiments, the mapuses a World Geodetic System (e.g., WGS 84) as the map's coordinatespace. The process 1300 in some such embodiments adjusts the map withrespect to the virtual camera's position in order to adjust the mapview.

Finally, the process 1300 renders (at 1360) the adjusted map view fordisplay on the device. In some embodiments, the rendered map view is animage that represents the adjusted map view. Then the process 1300 ends.

In some embodiments, the 3D map is rotatable at a defined range and/orset of zoom levels. For example, in some embodiments, the mappingapplication allows the 3D map to be rotated at a defined number of thehighest zoom levels (e.g., zoom levels 10-20) and prevents the 3D mapfrom being rotated at the remaining lower zoom levels (e.g., zoom levels1-10). In some such embodiments, the mapping application does notgenerate instructions to rotate the 3D map when the mapping applicationreceives input to rotate the 3D map at a zoom level that is defined tonot allow rotation operations. In other such embodiments, the mappingapplication generates instructions to rotate the 3D map when the mappingapplication receives input to rotate the 3D map at a zoom level that isdefined not to allow rotation operations, but the mapping applicationsimply ignores the instructions. One of ordinary skill in the art willrealize that the zoom levels at which rotation operations are allowed tobe performed on a 3D map might be defined in any number of differentways in different embodiments.

3. Legend and Names Rotating

The mapping application of some embodiments uses novel techniques toadjust or leave unadjusted the text and/or symbols that appear in themap view as the map view rotates. FIG. 14 illustrates one example ofthis novel approach in terms of four stages 1405 to 1420 of UIoperations. In this example, the name Apple Inc. appears at a location,which is 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino Calif.

In the first stage 1405, the name Apple Inc. is upright in a particularmap view. In the second and third stages 1410 and 1415, the map viewrotates in response to a user's two finger rotation operation. In bothof these stages, the name Apple Inc. is shown to slightly rotate at amuch smaller angle than the rotation angle of the map. The behavior ofthe name Apple Inc. is as if this name is pinned at its center or top tothe map but its center of gravity points downwards. Hence, whenever themap rotates, the name slightly rotates as well, but its center ofgravity makes it rotate less and eventually brings back the name to itsupright position. This upright position of the name Apple Inc. is shownin the fourth stage 1420. This stage shows the map view after therotation operation has completed.

Maintaining the constant upright position of all the text and/or symbolsin the a rotating map, however, might be a little bit distracting whenthe map has many text characters or symbols and many of them arefighting against the rotation to remain straight up. Accordingly, forsome of the characters and/or symbols, the mapping application of someembodiments employs an alternative mechanism to adjust their orientationduring a rotation.

FIG. 15 illustrates one such alternative example in terms of four stages1505 to 1520 of UI operations. In this example, the names of the streetsare the characters that rotate after the map view has been rotated by athreshold amount.

In the first stage 1505, the street names are aligned with the upwardand rightward direction of travel on the streets. In the second andthird stages 1510 and 1515, the map view rotates in response to a user'stwo finger rotation operation. In both of these stages, none of thestreet names have rotated since the map has not been rotated by thenecessary threshold amount. However, by the time the map is rotated toreach its orientation in the fourth stage 1520, the map has been rotatedenough to pass a threshold amount, which would require some of thestreet names (streets 1-4) to have to be rotated to maintain theiralignment with the upward travel direction.

4. Zooming and Bouncing

FIG. 16 illustrates an example in which the user transitions from the 3Dmap view to the 2D map view through two finger gesture operations. Thisfigure illustrates this transition in four stages 1605-1620. In thefirst three stages 1605-1615, the user performs a pinch operation thatcauses the application to zoom out of the 3D view presented in the firststage in successive steps, until the view changes into the 2D viewillustrated in stage four 1620.

Alternatively, or in conjunction with the perspective adjustment featuredescribed above by reference to FIG. 6, the mapping application of someembodiments allows the user to zoom in and out of a view of a 3D map(e.g., by providing gesture input with two fingers). FIG. 17 illustratesa zoom adjustment feature provided by the mapping application of someembodiments. In particular, FIG. 17 illustrates a virtual camera 1712 atthree different stages 1701-1703 that show the movement of the virtualcamera 1712 in response to zooming adjustments. As shown, FIG. 17 showsa location in a 3D map 1710 contains two buildings and a two roadsforming a T-junction.

The first stage 1701 shows a 3D map 1710 with a virtual camera 1712 at aparticular position pointing towards the 3D map 1710. In this position,the camera 1712 is pointing to a location that may be a stationaryposition of the device or of a location being explored, or a movingposition in front of a moving location of the device in a case where themap is used for navigation. Rendering a 3D map view based on the virtualcamera 1712's position results in the 3D map view 1714.

The second stage 1702 shows the virtual camera 1712 at a different zoomlevel position pointing towards the 3D map 1710. The stage 1702 showsthat a user has provided input to increase the zoom level of the view ofthe 3D map 1710 by touching two fingers near each other on the screen ofthe device and moving the fingertips apart while the fingers aretouching the screen (e.g., a spread gesture).

The zoom-in adjustment is accomplished by the virtual camera 1712 movingcloser to the 3D map 1710 along a line 1750. In some embodiments, theline 1750 that the mapping application uses to move the virtual camera1712 along is a line formed by the front of the virtual camera 1712 andthe virtual camera 1712's point of focus. The mapping application ofsome embodiments moves the virtual camera 1712 along a line formed bythe front of the virtual camera 1712 and a location in the 3D map 1710based on the user's input to zoom into the view of the 3D map 1710.

Rendering a 3D map view using the virtual camera 1712 at this positionresults in a 3D map view 1724 in which the buildings and the roadsappear closer than the position shown in the 3D map view 1714. Asindicated by the dashed-line version of the virtual camera 1712, thevirtual camera 1712 moved closer towards the 3D map 1710 along the line1750.

The third stage 1703 shows the virtual camera 1712 at a different zoomlevel position pointing towards the 3D map 1710. In this stage 1703, theuser has provided input to decrease the zoom level of the 3D map 1710 bytouching two fingers far apart on the screen of the device and movingthe fingertips closer together while the fingers are touching the screen(e.g., a pinch gesture).

The zoom-out adjustment is accomplished by moving the virtual camera1712 moving farther away from the 3D map 1710 along an line 1755. Insome embodiments, the line 1755 that the mapping application uses tomove the virtual camera 1712 along is a line formed by the front of thevirtual camera 1712 and the virtual camera 1712's point of focus. Themapping application of some embodiments moves the virtual camera 1712along a line formed by the front of the virtual camera 1712 and alocation in the 3D map 1710 based on the user's input to zoom into theview of the 3D map 1710.

Rendering a 3D map view using the virtual camera 1712 at this positionresults in a 3D map view 1734 in which the buildings and the roadsappear farther than the position illustrated in the 3D map view 1724. Asshown by the dashed-line version of the virtual camera 1712, the virtualcamera 1712 moved farther from the 3D map 1710 along the line 1755.

As described above, FIG. 17 illustrates several example zoom adjustmentoperations and the corresponding movement of a virtual camera in a 3Dmap that is used to render 3D map views of the 3D map. One of ordinaryskill in the art will realize that any number of different zoomadjustments are possible. Additionally, the mapping application of someembodiments performs zoom adjustment operations in response toadditional and/or different types of input (e.g., tapping the screen,double-tap the screen, etc.).

FIG. 18 conceptually illustrates a feature provided by the mappingapplication of some embodiments for maintaining the position of avirtual camera within a defined range along an arc. In particular, FIG.18 illustrates the virtual camera 1800 at three different stages1805-1815 that show the virtual camera 1800's position maintained withina defined range of arc 1850. As shown in FIG. 18, a location in a 3D map1835 includes two buildings and two roads forming a T-junction.

The first stage 1805 shows the virtual camera 1800 at a particularposition along the arc 1850. As shown, the arc 1850 represents a definedrange (e.g., angular range) within which the virtual camera 1800 ismovable. The first stage 1805 also shows three positions 1855-1865 alongthe arc 1850 (e.g., perspective view angles). In this example, themapping application moves the virtual camera 1800 along the arc 1850between the high perspective end of the arc 1850 (e.g., the positionalong the arc 1850 when the virtual camera 1800 is most tilteddownwards) and the position 1855 in a manner similar to that describedabove by reference to FIG. 5. Rendering a 3D map view of based on thevirtual camera 1800's position in the first stage 1805 results in 3D mapview 1825.

When the virtual camera 1800 passes the position 1855 while movingtowards the low perspective end of the arc 1850, the mapping applicationreduces the speed (e.g., decelerates) at which the virtual camera 1800moves towards the low perspective end of the arc 1850 regardless of theinput provided by a user. In some embodiments, the mapping applicationreduces the speed of the virtual camera 1800 at a constant rate while,in some embodiments, the mapping application reduces the speed of thevirtual camera 1800 at an exponential rate. Additional and/or differentmethods for decreasing the speed of the virtual camera 1800 are used insome embodiments.

The second stage 1810 shows that the virtual camera 1800 has moved to aposition along the arc 1850 at or near the low perspective end of thearc 1850. As shown, a user is providing input to adjust the perspectiveof the view of the 3D map 1835 by touching two fingers on the screen anddragging the two fingers in an upward direction (e.g., a swipe gesture).In response to the input, the mapping application moved the virtualcamera 1800 toward the low perspective end of the arc 1850 while tiltingthe virtual camera 1850 upwards. When the virtual camera reaches theposition 1865 along the arc 1850, the mapping application prevents thevirtual camera 1800 from moving lower beyond the position 1865 while theuser continues to provide input to decrease the perspective of the viewof the 3D map 1835 (e.g., the user continues to drag the two fingersupwards on the touchscreen).

In some embodiments, when the user stops to provide input to decreasethe perspective of the view of the 3D map 1835 (e.g., the user lifts thetwo fingers off the touchscreen), the mapping application “bounces” or“snaps” the position of the virtual camera 1800 from the position 1865up to the position 1860 along the arc 1850. As the mapping applicationis generating or rendering 3D map views of the 3D map 1835 based on theview of the virtual camera 1800 during the bounce or snap motion, thegenerated 3D map views provide a bounce animation that displays the 3Dmap view briefly bouncing or snapping down in order to indicate to theuser that the perspective of the map view cannot be decreased anyfarther. Rendering a 3D map view using the virtual camera 1800positioned at this angle results in a 3D map view 1830 in which thebuildings and the roads are taller compared to the map view 1825.

The third stage 1815 shows the virtual camera 1800 after the mappingapplication bounced or snapped the position of the virtual camera 1800to the position 1860 in response to the user ceasing to provide input.Different embodiments use different techniques for implementing thebounce or snap of the virtual camera 1800. For instance, the mappingapplication of some embodiments starts quickly accelerating the virtualcamera 1800 along the arc 1850 for a defined distance or until thevirtual camera 1800 reaches a defined speed. Then the mappingapplication decelerates the virtual camera 1800 for the remainingdistance to the position 1860 along the arc 1850. Other ways toimplement the bounce or snap effect are used in some embodiments.Rendering a 3D map view using the virtual camera 1800 positioned at theposition 1860 along the arc 1850 in the third stage 1815 results in a 3Dmap view 1840 in which the buildings appear a little smaller and flatterand the roads appear a little smaller compared to the map view 1830.

As described above, FIG. 18 illustrates a technique for preventing avirtual camera from moving beyond the low perspective end of an arc.Alternatively or in conjunction with preventing the virtual camera frommoving beyond the low perspective end of the arc, the mappingapplication of some embodiments utilizes a similar technique forpreventing the virtual camera from moving beyond the high perspectiveend of the arc. In addition, FIG. 18 shows an example of a positionalong an arc at which to slow down a virtual camera, a position alongthe arc to prevent the virtual camera from moving past, and a positionalong the arc to which the virtual camera snaps or bounces back.Different embodiments define the positions any number of different ways.For instance, in some embodiments, the position along the arc at whichto slow down the virtual camera is the same or near the position alongthe arc to which the virtual camera snaps or bounces back.

5. Rendering Module

FIG. 19 conceptually illustrates a processing, or map rendering,pipeline 1900 performed by the mapping application of some embodimentsin order to render a map for display at the client device (e.g., on thedisplay of the client device). In some embodiments, the map renderingpipeline 1900 may be referred to collectively as a map rendering module.A more detailed version of this processing pipeline is described in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/632,035, now issued as U.S. Pat. No.9,111,380, entitled “Rendering Maps,” concurrently filed with thisapplication. This concurrently filed U.S. Patent Application isincorporated herein by reference. As illustrated, the processingpipeline 1900 includes tile retrievers 1905, a set of mesh builders1915, a set of mesh building processors 1910, a controller 1975, a tileprovider 1920, a virtual camera 1930, and a map rendering engine 1925.

The tile retrievers 1905 perform various processes to retrieve map tilesin some embodiments, according to requests for the map tiles from themesh builders 1915. The mesh builders 1915, as are described below,identify existing map tiles (that are stored on a mapping service serveror in a cache on the device performing the processing pipeline 1900)needed to build their respective meshes. The tile retrievers 1905receive the requests for the map tiles, determine the best location fromwhich to retrieve the map tiles (e.g., from the mapping service, from acache on the device, etc.) and decompress the map tiles if required.

The mesh builders 1915 (also referred to as tile sources) of someembodiments are instantiated by the tile provider 1920 in order to builddifferent layers of view tiles. Depending on the type of map beingdisplayed by the mapping application, the tile provider 1920 mayinstantiate a different number and different types of mesh builders1915. For instance, for a flyover (or satellite) view map, the tileprovider 1920 might only instantiate one mesh builder 1915, as theflyover map tiles of some embodiments do not contain multiple layers ofdata. In fact, in some embodiments, the flyover map tiles contain analready-built mesh generated at the mapping service for which theflyover images (taken by a satellite, airplane, helicopter, etc.) areused as textures. However, in some embodiments, additional mesh buildersmay be instantiated for generating the labels to overlay on the flyoverimages when the application is in a hybrid mode. For a 2D or 3D renderedvector map (i.e., a non-satellite image map), some embodimentsinstantiate separate mesh builders 1915 to build meshes for landcoverpolygon data (e.g., parks, bodies of water, etc.), roads, place ofinterest marks, point labels (e.g., labels for parks, etc.), roadlabels, traffic (if displaying traffic), buildings, raster data (forcertain objects at certain zoom levels), as well as other layers of datato incorporate into the map. Generating flyover view map is described indetail in PCT Application PCT/EP2011/054155, entitled “3D Streets.” PCTApplication PCT/EP2011/054155 is incorporated herein by reference.

The mesh builders 1915 of some embodiments, receive “empty” view tilesfrom the tile provider 1920 and return “built” view tiles to the tileprovider 1920. That is, the tile provider 1920 sends to each of the meshbuilders 1915 one or more view tiles (not shown). Each of the view tilesindicates an area of the world for which to draw a mesh. Upon receivingsuch a view tile, a mesh builder 1915 identifies the map tiles neededfrom the mapping service, and sends its list to the tile retrievers1905.

Upon receiving the tiles back from the tile retrievers 1905, the meshbuilder uses vector data stored in the tiles to build a polygon mesh forthe area described by the view tile. In some embodiments, the meshbuilder 1915 uses several different mesh building processors 1910 tobuild the mesh. These functions may include a mesh generator, atriangulator, a shadow generator, and/or a texture decoder. In someembodiments, these functions (and additional mesh building functions)are available to each mesh builder, with different mesh builders 1915using different functions. After building its mesh, each mesh builder1915 returns its view tiles to the tile provider 1920 with its layer ofthe mesh filled in.

The tile provider 1920 receives from the controller 1975 a particularview (i.e., a volume, or viewing frustrum) that represents the map viewto be displayed (i.e., the volume visible from the virtual camera 1930).The tile provider performs any culling (e.g., identifying the surfacearea to be displayed in the view tile), then sends these view tiles tothe mesh builders 1915.

The tile provider 1920 then receives the built view tiles from the meshbuilders and, in some embodiments, performs culling on the built meshusing the particular view from the virtual camera 1930 (e.g., removingsurface area too far away, removing objects that will be entirely behindother objects, etc.). In some embodiments, the tile provider 1920receives the built view tiles from the different mesh builders atdifferent times (e.g., due to different processing times to completemore and less complicated meshes, different time elapsed beforereceiving the necessary map tiles from the tile retrievers 1905, etc.).Once all of the layers of view tiles have been returned, the tileprovider 1920 of some embodiments puts the layers together and releasesthe data to the controller 1975 for rendering.

The virtual camera 1930 generates a volume or surface for the pipeline1900 to render, and sends this information to the controller 1975. Basedon a particular location and orientation from which the map will berendered (i.e., the point in 3D space from which the user “views” themap), the virtual camera identifies a field of view to actually send tothe tile provider 1920. In some embodiments, when the mappingapplication is rendering the 3D perspective view for navigation, thefield of view of the virtual camera is determined according to analgorithm that generates a new virtual camera location and orientationat regular intervals based on the movement of the user device.

The controller 1975 is responsible for managing the tile provider 1920,virtual camera 1930, and map rendering engine 1925 in some embodiments.In some embodiments, multiple tile providers may actually beinstantiated, and the controller puts together several view tiles (e.g.,map tiles and building tiles) to create a scene that is handed off tothe map rendering engine 1925.

The map rendering engine 1925 is responsible for generating a drawing tooutput to a display device based on the mesh tiles (not shown) sent fromthe virtual camera. The map rendering engine 1925 of some embodimentshas several sub-processes. In some embodiments, each different type ofmap element is rendered by a different sub-process, with the renderingengine 1925 handling the occlusion of different layers of objects (e.g.,placing labels above or behind different buildings, generating roads ontop of land cover, etc.). Examples of such rendering processes include aroad rendering process, a building rendering process, and a labelrendering process, a vegetation rendering process, a raster trafficrendering process, a raster road rendering process, a satelliterendering process, a polygon rendering process, a background rasterrendering process, etc.

The operation of the rendering pipeline 1900 in some embodiments willnow be described. Based on user input to view a particular map region ata particular zoom level, the virtual camera 1930 specifies a locationand orientation from which to view the map region, and sends thisviewing frustrum, or volume, to the controller 1975. The controller 1975instantiates one or more tile providers. While one tile provider 1920 isshown in this figure, some embodiments allow the instantiation ofmultiple tile providers at once. For instance, some embodimentsinstantiate separate tile providers for building tiles and for maptiles.

The tile provider 1920 performs any culling necessary to generate anempty view tile identifying regions of the map region for which a meshneeds to be built, and sends the empty view tile to the mesh builders1915, which are instantiated for the different layers of the drawn map(e.g., roads, land cover, POI labels, etc.). The mesh builders 1915 usea manifest received from the mapping service that identifies thedifferent tiles available on the mapping service server (i.e., as nodesof a quadtree). The mesh builders 1915 request specific map tiles fromthe tile retrievers 1905, which return the requested map tiles to themesh builders 1915.

Once a particular mesh builder 1915 has received its map tiles, itbegins using the vector data stored in the map tiles to build the meshfor the view tiles sent from the tile provider 1920. After building themesh for its map layer, the mesh builder 1915 sends the built view tileback to the tile provider 1920. The tile provider 1920 waits until ithas received all of the view tiles from the various mesh builders 1915,then layers these together and sends the completed view tile to thecontroller 1975. The controller stitches together the returned tilesfrom all of its tile providers (e.g., a map view tile and a buildingview tile) and sends this scene to the rendering engine 1925. The maprendering engine 1925 uses the information in the map tiles to draw thescene for display.

II. Location Search

A. Search Field Behaviors

1. Search Field Function and Appearance

The search field of the mapping application in some embodiments isanother UI tool that the application employs to make the transitionbetween the different modalities seamless. In some embodiments, a usercan initiate a search by tapping in the search field. This directs theapplication to present an animation that (1) presents an on-screenkeyboard and (2) opens a search table full of invaluable completions.This table has some important subtleties. When the search field istapped and before the terms are edited, or when the search field isempty, the table contains a list of “recents,” which in some embodimentsare recent searches and route directions that the user has requested.This makes it very easy to quickly bring up recently accessed results.

After any edit in the search field, the table is filled with searchcompletions both from local sources (e.g., bookmarks, contacts, recentsearches, recent route directions, etc.) and remote server suggestions.The incorporation of the user's contact card into the search interfaceadds additional flexibility to the design. When showing recents, a routefrom current location to the user's home is always offered in someembodiments, while it is offered in the contexts that are deemed to be“appropriate” in other embodiments. Also, when the search term matchesat least part of an address label (e.g., ‘Wo’ for ‘Work’), theapplication presents the user's labeled address as a completion in thesearch table in some embodiments. Together, these behaviors make thesearch UI a very powerful way to get results onto a map from a varietyof sources. In addition to allowing a user to initiate a search, thepresence of the search field in the primary map view in some embodimentsalso allows users to see the query corresponding to search results onthe map and to remove those search results by clearing the query.

a) Viewing Recents

As described above, when the search field is initially tapped and beforeany search terms are provided or edited, or when the search field isempty, the search table displays a list of recent searched terms andsearched route directions. FIG. 20 illustrates four stages 2005-2020 ofa user's interaction with the application running on a user's device inorder to display the search table with a list of the user's recentsearches and recent route directions.

The first stage 2005 shows the device after the mapping application hasopened. As mentioned above, the mapping application's UI has a startingpage that in some embodiments (1) displays a map of the current locationof the device, and (2) several UI controls arranged in the top bar 140and as floating controls. In the first stage 2005, the user taps thesearch field 165, which is currently empty. The top bar 140 includes thedirection control 160 and the bookmark control 170.

The second stage 2010 illustrates the application displaying a searchtable 2040 after receiving the user's tapping of the search field. Thissearch table is displayed regardless of whether or not the user providesany search terms in the search field. The search table 2040 provides alist of suggested search completions, including recently searched termsand route directions. In particular, the search table indicates that theuser recently searched for “John Smith” and “Pizzeria.” Each of thesearch completions listed in the search table also indicates certainother useful information. For instance, an icon 2045 displayed next to“John Smith” indicates that this person is included in a contact list onthe user's device and “Pizzeria” is currently saved as a bookmark, asindicated by a bookmark icon 2050.

The search table also lists the user's recent route directions, whichincludes directions to “Royal Burgers” illustrated at the bottom of thesearch table 2040. Also, the search table 2040 lists an option to obtaindirections from the user's current location to their home address, whichis illustrated as the first item of the search table 2040. When showingrecents, a route from current location to the user's home is alwaysoffered in some embodiments. Moreover, the mapping application of someembodiments displays recent route directions only when the search fieldis empty. That is, once the user starts typing in a search query, themapping application does not include recent route directions in the listof suggested search completions.

The second stage 2010 also illustrates that the mapping application ofsome embodiments removes the direction control 160 and the bookmarkcontrol 170 from the top bar 140. The mapping application inserts acancel control 2055 for canceling out of the search table 2040 and goingback to the map view shown in the previous stage 2005.

The third stage 2015 illustrates the user's selection of the directionsto “Home” option, listed as the first item in the search table. Byproviding some of the most frequently requested user searches anddirection requests at the top of the search table, including a directionto home option, the application provides a user the ability to quicklyobtain information for their most common requests without having toextensively navigate the application to receive these results.

The fourth stage 2020 illustrates the mapping application displaying aroute corresponding to directions from the user's current location totheir home. The mapping application of some embodiments also removes thesearch field 165 and the cancel control 2055 from the top bar 140 andplaces the clear control 255 and a start control 2060. The start control2060 in some embodiments is for starting the navigation according to theselected route. In some embodiments, the mapping application centers thecurrent location indicator in the display area so that the route fromthe current location is displayed from the center of the display area.

A user may also provide a search query in the search field. When theuser enters a full search term in the search field, the mappingapplication of some embodiments provides a list of items that match orinclude the search term that has been typed in the search field so far.For each particular search, the user has the option to select from thelist of items displayed in the search table or the user may select a“search” button on the keyboard to execute a full search of the searchterm as it relates to the map and the user's current location.

b) Full Search Term

FIG. 21 illustrates in four stages 2105-2120 an example of the user'sentering a search query in the search field and executing a search. Inthe first stage 2105, the user taps the search field 165. In thisexample, it is assumed that the user has not conducted a search prior toentering this search query or that the search history has been clearedby the user or the mapping application. Therefore, the mappingapplication does not provide a search table populated with recentlysearched terms and route directions.

The next stage 2110 shows the device after the user has typed in asearch term “Pavilion.” A search table 2155 illustrates a list of searchcompletions for the user-entered query term “Pavilion.” The listedsearch completions include suggested searches for “Pavilion Market”,“Pavilion Theaters” and directions to “Bowling Pavilion” from the user'scurrent location. However, the search completions for routes do not showthe text “Current Location” in some embodiments. Instead, the mappingapplication displays the address of the destinations as shown. This isbecause the mapping application of some embodiments assumes that theuser's typing in the letters indicates that the user intends to get tothe destinations that match the search query and therefore thedestination address is more useful to the user information than theindication that the route is from the current location to thedestination.

Moreover, the list of suggested search completions in the search tabledoes not display any bookmarks or contacts since there are no matchingitems stored locally on the user's device that match with “Pavilion” inthis example. Furthermore, because the user has not executed any recentsearches or directions for “Pavilion,” all of the suggested searchcompletions listed in the search table have been obtained from theremote servers in some embodiments. Obtaining data from remote serversis described further below.

Furthermore, the listed search completions may include searchcompletions that match local geographies (e.g., streets, neighborhoods,cites, states or country). For instance, “Pavilion Street,” or “City ofPavilion” may appear in the search completions list when there are suchstreet or city. Also, as the user enters parts of an address (e.g., 220Pavilion“), the remote servers may retrieve the most significantcompletion for this address if such address exists (e.g., 220 PromenadeDrive, Skycity, Calif.”).

The third stage 2115 illustrates the user disregarding any of thesuggested search completions listed in the search table 2155 and insteadselecting the “search” button on the keyboard. The fourth stage 2120illustrates a map with a pin 2190 for “Pavilion Theaters.” In someembodiments, the mapping application adjusts the zooming level of themap as is described further below. The mapping application in some ofthese embodiments does not display a pin for a location when thelocation falls out of the map at the current zooming level. As such, apin for “Bowling Pavilion” is not shown in the map. The mappingapplication has also removed the cancel control 2055 from the top bar140 and restored the direction control 160 and the bookmark control 170in the top bar 140.

c) Partial Search Term and Automatic Completion

After any edit in the search field, the mapping application of someembodiments instantly fills the search table with automatic searchcompletions. That is, as the user types in a search term in the searchfield, the mapping application provides a list of suggested searchcompletions based on the characters that have been typed in at aparticular instance in time. The mapping application of some embodimentsobtains these suggested search completions from local sources (e.g.,bookmarks, contacts, recent searches, recent route directions, etc.) andalso from remote servers.

FIG. 22 illustrates four stages 2205-2220 of a user initiating a searchquery and the instantaneous display of a search table with a list ofrecommended search completions. In the first stage 2205, the user istapping the search field 165 to initiate a search. The second stage 2210illustrates the mapping application presenting an on-screen keyboard2250 and the user entering, using the keyboard 2250, the letter “P” intothe search field. After receiving this first letter, the applicationinstantly presents a search table with a list of suggested searchcompletions gathered from various sources (e.g., local on device andremote server suggestions).

The search table will continue to adjust and refine the list ofsuggested search completions in the search table as it receives moreuser input (i.e., more alphanumeric characters and symbols) and queryterms in the search field. In some embodiments, the mapping applicationadjusts and refines the list as the user provides more input even if theuser is misspelling the term being entered. For instance, when the usertypes in “Piza”, the mapping application will show search completionsthat contains the correctly spelled word, “Pizza.” The mappingapplication of some embodiments uses a spell-checking and correctionmechanism as well as other data (e.g., search history, etc.) to findsimilarly spelled words to make the suggested list of searchcompletions.

Each search completion may be derived from a variety of sources, bothlocal on the user's device and derived from remote sources and servers.The mapping application of some embodiments lists the search completionsfrom local sources ahead of the search completions from remote sourcesand servers. For instance, the search table illustrated in the secondstage 2210 lists several search completions, including “Paul”, “Pizza”,directions to “Police Station” and directions to “Promenade” in thatorder from the top to the bottom of the list. “Paul” is derived from acontact card on the user's device; “Pizza” is derived from a previoususer search stored in a search history file on the user's device; anddirections to “Police Station” is derived from a recently searched routedirections. As mentioned above, the search completions for routes do notshow the text “Current Location” in some embodiments. Instead, themapping application of some of these embodiments displays the address ofthe destinations. In some cases, the mapping application does notindicate the route is from the current location nor it displays theaddress of the destination. For instance, the directions to “PoliceStation” do not additionally show the address because the searchcompletion itself includes the address of the police station.

However, “Promenade” is a search completion obtained from a remoteserver. A remote map server would suggest this completion based on thesearch queries that other users of the map server have used from thecurrent location of the device. Hence, “Promenade” is listed at thebottom of the search table 2255 after the three suggested completionsthat the mapping application obtained locally. As is described furtherbelow, the mapping application of some embodiments orders locallyobtained search completions.

In some embodiments, the mapping application's suggested completions andsearch results are based on the current location of the device. That is,the suggested completions and search results that fall within the regionof the map that is within a range from the device's current location.Alternatively or conjunctively, the region of the map that is currentlydisplayed in the display area is what the mapping application of someembodiments bases its suggestion and search results. In theseembodiments, the mapping application favors the search completions andsearch results that fall within the currently displayed region of themap.

Moreover, the mapping application considers other factors when definingand adjusting the list of suggested search completions. In someembodiments, the mapping application considers the temporal factors. Forinstance, the mapping application breaks up the search history (i.e.,the list of previously used search completions) into different periodsof a day (e.g., late night, early morning, etc.), week, month and/oryear, and favors the search completions and search results of aparticular set of periods in which the time the current search beingconducted falls.

The third stage 2215 illustrates the user selecting “Pizza” from thelist of search completions displayed in the search table. The fourthstage 2220 illustrates the mapping application now displays a map withthe location of “Pizza Place” illustrated as a banner 2290 and a pin onthe map. The user may then select various icons displayed on the bannerto perform a variety of functions including obtaining reviews for therestaurant, invoking navigation to the restaurant, or receivingdirections to the restaurant, and various other features as aredescribed further below.

The banner 2290 includes a route fetch control 2295 (depicted as an iconshowing a car) for fetching a route (e.g., a driving route) from thecurrent location to that pin without ever leaving the map view. Theroute fetch control is also for initiating navigation experience. Forinstance, the mapping application of some embodiments will provide oneor more routes to the location of the pin from the current location ofthe device upon receiving a selection of the route fetch control. When aroute is selected, the mapping application can start operating in anavigation mode or in a route inspection mode.

FIG. 23 illustrates three stages 2305-2315 of a user initiating a searchquery and the instantaneous display of a search table with a list ofrecommended search completions. The three stages 2305-2315 of FIG. 23are similar to the stages 2205, 2215, and 2220 of FIG. 22 except thatthe map is in 3D view. In the first stage 2305, the user is tapping thesearch field 165 to initiate a search. The second stage 2310 illustratesthe application instantly presents a search table with a list ofsuggested search completions gathered from various sources (e.g., localon device and remote server suggestions) after receiving a letter in thesearch field 165.

The second stage 2310 also illustrates the user selecting “Pizza” fromthe list of search completions displayed in the search table. The thirdstage 2315 illustrates the mapping application now displays a map withthe location of “Pizza PLC1” and the location of “Pizza PLC2” (bannernot shown) illustrated as associated pins 2390 and 2395 respectively onthe map. The user may then select various icons displayed on the bannerto perform a variety of functions including obtaining reviews for therestaurant, invoking navigation to the restaurant, or receivingdirections to the restaurant, and various other features as aredescribed further below.

d) Favoring Local Results

In order to provide certain search completions within the search table,the mapping application of some embodiments analyzes a variety of localinformation stored in the user's device. For instance, each user'sdevice may contain a contacts list containing several contact cards.Each contact card may contain a variety of information and labels foreach contact. For instance, each contact card may contain contact labelswith information, if applicable, regarding the contact's first and lastname, company name, home address, work address, mobile phone number,work phone number, e-mail address, URL, and various other information.

Likewise, the contact list may contain a specific contact cardcorresponding to the particular user of the mapping application, whichthe mapping application may specify as a “ME card.” The mappingapplication may frequently access the user's ME card to utilize certaininformation required for certain application features, including thefeature of obtaining directions from a user's current location to theirhome address or work address which are provided in numerous differentcontexts within the mapping application. In particular, the mappingapplication of some embodiments lists search completions that themapping application obtains from the ME card on the top of search table.

FIG. 24 illustrates four stages 2405-2420 of a user entering a partialaddress and obtaining directions to their home address as derived fromtheir contact or ME card. Specifically, FIG. 24 illustrates that themapping application of some embodiments lists the user's home address ontop of the search table 2455. In the first stage 2405, the user taps thesearch field to begin the process of entering their search queryinformation.

During the second stage 2410, the user has entered a partial number,“12” that may match at least part to an address or a search term. Insome embodiments, the application first matches the user entered searchquery with information contained in the user's ME card and in the user'scontact list stored on their device. If the application detects anymatching contact labels between the search query and the user's ME card,the application of some embodiments will display the information foundin the identified contact as a suggested search completion listed at thetop of the search table. In some embodiments, the mapping applicationdisplays the information found in the identified contact as a suggestedsearch completion only if the matching information is address of thecontact. Underneath this suggested search completion, the mappingapplication displays text (e.g., “Current Location”) to indicate theroute is from the current location to home. However, as mentioned above,the mapping application of some embodiments instead displays thedestination address instead of or in conjunction with displaying thistext, or does not display the text nor the destination address. Theapplication will display other matching contact cards below the searchcompletion originated from the ME card. In some embodiments, the mappingapplication may also present search completions not related to the MEcards. For instance, when the user enters a “12,” the mappingapplication will present matching search completions from local previoussearch completions (including social networking sites messages) as wellas matching search completions from remote servers.

The second stage 2410 illustrates the application automaticallypresenting the user's labeled home address derived from the user's MEcard as a completion in the search table. The application detected amatch between the user's entered query of “12” with the user's ME cardthat contained a home address label for “1234 A Street, Santa . . . . ”Since this match was derived from the user's ME card, the applicationprioritizes this locally derived information and displays it near thetop of the list of suggested search completions in the search table. Thesearch table also displays other search completions, including “BobSmith”, “12 Hour Fitness” and “John Doe”, all derived from various localand remote resources. For instance, Bob Smith is currently stored in acontact list on the users device.

The third stage 2415 illustrates the user selecting the directions tohome. The fourth stage 2420 illustrates the application displaying a mapwith a route corresponding to directions from the user's currentlocation to the user's home.

The application may also analyze other information or labels stored in auser's contact list or contact card. FIG. 25 illustrates an example, infour stages 2505-1820, of a user entering a partial search term andobtaining directions to their work address derived from their contactcard. Specifically, this figure illustrates that the mapping applicationof some embodiments lists the directions to the work address at the topor near the top of the search table.

In the first stage 2505, the user taps the search field 165 to begin theprocess of entering their search query. During the second stage 2510,the user has entered a partial search term, “Wo”, that the applicationdetects as a part of an address label for “Work” or “A's Work” stored inwork label field of the user's contact card (or ME card). Theapplication presents the user's labeled work address as a completion inthe search table in some embodiments. As shown, the user's labeled workaddress at the top of the search table 2555. Underneath this suggestedsearch completion, the mapping application displays text (e.g., “CurrentLocation”) to indicate the route is from the current location to home.However, as mentioned above, the mapping application of some embodimentsinstead may display the destination address instead of or in conjunctionwith displaying this text, or does not display the text nor thedestination address.

As described above, the mapping application of some embodiments displaysany information matched and derived from the contact list of the user'sdevice near the top of the list of items in the search table but belowthe information matched and derived from the user's ME card. Forinstance, the search table 2555 also lists towards the top of the searchtable but below the user's labeled work address the contact informationfor “Bob Woods”, derived from another contact card stored in the user'scontact list. The search table next lists “World Market” as a suggestedsearch completion provided by a remote server.

The order that each suggested search completion is listed in the searchtable may be derived from various ranking algorithms and heuristics thatrank the strength of the relationship between the search query terms andthe suggested search completion. One such heuristic is described furtherbelow. In some embodiments, search completions derived from localsources (e.g., a contact list) generally receive a higher priority thaninformation derived from the remote servers. These search completionsare likewise displayed at the top of the search table.

The third stage 2515 illustrates the user selecting the list itemcorresponding to directions to “Work” from the search table. The fourthstage 2520 illustrates the application displaying a map with a routecorresponding to directions from the user's current location to theuser's work.

e) Bookmarks

Search completions listed in the search table may also be obtained, insome embodiments, by accessing a variety of other information storedlocally on a user's device. For instance, some embodiments may analyzebookmark information stored on the user's device. Each bookmark maycontain various location information for places in which the user hasindicated an interest. FIG. 26 illustrates four stages 2605-2620 of auser entering a partial search query and selecting a bookmark from thelist of search completions in the search table.

In the first stage 2605, the user taps the search field to begin theprocess of entering their search information. During the second stage2610, the user has entered a partial search term, “Bur”, in the searchfield. The application matches this partial query term to various localand remote suggestions. The application matches include “Burt Smith”,“Burger Palace” and directions to “Royal Burgers.” For this searchquery, the application presents the user's labeled bookmark as asuggested search completion in the search table. In particular, theapplication has matched “Bur” to “Burger Palace” because this restaurantis currently stored as a bookmark in the user's device, as indicated bythe bookmark icon 2630 next to “Burger Palace.”

In some embodiments, the information matched with the bookmarks of theuser's device may be displayed in a particular sorted order within thesearch table. Some embodiments display the search completions derivedfrom the bookmarks below the search completions derived from the user'scontacts list. However, the search completions derived from thebookmarks may still be displayed above any of the remote server searchsuggestions. The search field in stage 2610 illustrates that thecontact, “Burt Smith”, is still displayed at the top of the list ofsuggested search completions since this was derived from a contact liston the user's device. Likewise, the user's bookmark for “Burger Palace”is displayed as the second item in the search table and directions fromcurrent location to “Royal Burgers” is displayed at the bottom of thelist.

The search table in some embodiments may define a different priorityorder for displaying the items that are derived from the local sourceson the device. For instance, some embodiments may factor the searchhistory and frequency that a user selects different suggested searchcompletions in order to determine the particular order that thesuggested search completions are presented in the search table. Forinstance, if a user frequently searches for and selects “Burger Palace”,corresponding to a bookmark on the device, the application may displaythis suggested search completion at the top of the list and “BurtSmith”, corresponding to a contact card, as the second item in the listdisplayed in the search table. The third stage 2615 shows the user'sselection of a bookmark for “Burger Palace.” The fourth stage 2620 showsa pin and a banner for “Burger Palace.”

f) Ordering Search Completions

As described above, for any particular search query, the search table isfilled with search completions from 1) local sources (e.g., bookmarks,contacts, recent searches, recent route directions, etc.) and 2) remoteserver sources. The particular display order that the suggested searchcompletions are displayed in the search table is derived using a varietyof heuristics. In some embodiments, in general, the display orderprefers search completions derived from local sources over those derivedfrom remote sources.

FIG. 27 conceptually illustrates a process 2700 that some embodimentsperform to determine an order in which to display suggested searchcompletions from different sources in a search table. In someembodiments, the process 2700 is performed by the mapping application.The process 2700 of some embodiments starts when the user starts to asearch query in the search field.

The process 2700 begins by retrieving or receiving (at 2705) the searchquery entered in the search field. The process 2700 then retrieves (at2710) matching information from one or more local sources. As mentionedabove, local sources in some embodiments include the user's contactlist, bookmarks, search histories, and recent directions. The process2700 may match the query term with several information and labels storedin the contact card, including an address label, phone number, name, orURL, among other information stored in the contact card. The process mayalso match the search query with other local information, includingbookmarks and user search history information.

Next, the process 2700 determines (at 2715) the display order for theretrieved matches from the local sources. In some embodiments, theprocess 2700 first orders matches from each local source based oncertain criteria (e.g., frequency of usage of the completions, strengthof association between search query and a match, etc.) and takes only acertain number (e.g., three) of top matches from each local source. Insome embodiments, the process 2700 orders the retrieved matches based onthe local sources. For instance, the process 2700 displays the matchesin an order of the ME card, the contact list, bookmarks, and searchhistories. Other embodiments may have different order. The process 2700then displays (at 2720) the retrieved matches from the local sources inthe search table according to the determined (at 2715) display order.

The process 2700 then receives or retrieves (at 2725) search suggestionsfrom remote sources (e.g., remote map servers) by sending the searchquery to the remote sources. In some embodiments, the process 2700 sendsthe search query to the remote sources and looks into the local sourcesto find matching information at the same time. In some embodiments, theservers may apply their own search ranking algorithm to identify andscore particular search suggestions. The server may then send aparticular number of identified search results to the mappingapplication, which the process 2700 may order and filter (at 2730) usingown heuristics (e.g., frequency of usage of the completions, strength ofassociation between search query and a match, etc.). For instance, insome embodiments, the process 2700 would suggest the top three serversearch suggestions in list of suggested search completions in the searchtable. Next, the process 2700 displays (at 2735) the matches from remotesources below the matches from the local sources. The process 2700 thenends.

Some embodiments may immediately present the local search suggestionsand adjust these suggestions to include remote server suggestions asthese are received from the server, which provides a “quasi” real timefeel to the search process. For instance, if the search table providesenough screen space to list ten individual search completions orsuggestions, the process may initially list all ten of these searchsuggestions from locally derived sources (e.g., bookmarks, contacts,search histories). The process may then replace these local searchsuggestions with suggestions received from the servers as they areobtained through the network. The process 2700 may constantly update theparticular list of search suggestions as more information is receivedfrom the servers that may be considered more important than theinformation listed in the search table.

g) Displaying Search Results as a List

FIG. 28 illustrates an example of running the mapping application ofsome embodiments on a device 2800 that has relatively larger displayarea (e.g., a tablet device such as iPad® sold by Apple, Inc.) comparedto a display area of a smaller device (e.g., a smartphone such asiPhone® sold by Apple Inc.). Specifically, FIG. 28 illustrates in fourdifferent stages 2805-2820 a user's interaction with the mappingapplication to display a list of search results in a device with arelatively larger display area.

The first stage 2805 shows that the mapping application has a top bar2806 that includes a set of controls including a search field 2830 and alist view control 2835 for showing a list of search results. In someembodiments, the mapping application displays this list view control2835 in the top bar 2806 upon completion of a search based on a searchquery as shown. In other embodiments, the mapping application places thelist view control 2835 in the search field 2830. Yet in otherembodiments, the mapping application places the list view control 2835by sliding the list view control 235 out from under the 3D icon 2890.

In some such embodiments, the mapping application displays the list viewcontrol 2835 when the mapping application displays the search results inthe map. In this example, the first stage 2805 shows that the mappingapplication has run a search using “Pizza” as a search query. Themapping application displays search results as two pins 2840 and 2845 ina map view. The mapping application of some embodiments also displays aninformational banner 2846 for one of the two pins, which indicates thatthe point of interest (POI) represented by the pin is the top suggestedresult. The first stage 2805 also shows that the user is selecting thelist view control 2835.

The second stage 2810 shows that the mapping application is displaying alist of POIs 2850 that the mapping application has found using thesearch query. The list has three POIs in this example. The first twoPOIs correspond to the pins 2845 and 2840, respectively. The mappingapplication does not show a pin that corresponds to the third POI,“Pizza Planet,” because the third POI is not located within the regionof the map that includes the first two POIs. In some embodiments, themapping application shifts the map to display another region when a POIselected from the list is not located within the region of the map thatis currently displayed.

The third stage 2815 shows that the mapping application is receiving aselection of the third entry. The fourth stage 2815 shows that themapping application has shifted the map to display another region of themap that includes a pin 2855 that corresponds to the third POI. In someembodiments, the mapping application displays an animation for aduration of time to show that the map is being shifted to another regionof the map. In some embodiments, the mapping application displays aninformational banner for the third POI because the pin for the POI isthe only pin in the map region.

h) Software Architecture

FIG. 29 illustrates an example architecture of a mapping applicationthat provides a list of suggested search completions based on the searchqueries. In this example, a mapping application 2900 of some embodimentsruns in a device 2905. As shown the mapping application 2900 includes asearch completion manager 2910, a local sources manager 2915, a remotesources manager 2920, a list manager 2925, a search query parser 2930, arecent search completions repository 2935, and a recent route directionrepository 2940. This figure also illustrates a search and map server2960. The mapping application 2900, the device 2905, and the search andmap server 2960 may each have numerous other modules but not depicted inthis figure for simplicity of discussion.

The search query parser 2930 receives the search queries that user typesin through an input manger (not shown) of the device 2905. The queryparser 2930 sends parsed queries to the search completion manager 2910so that the search completion manager 2910 can generate search requeststo the remote sources manager 2920 and the local sources manager 2915.The search query parser 2930 also receives a tap input on a search field(e.g., the search field 165) and notifies the search completion managerof such input so that the search completion manager can retrieve recentsearch completions and recent route directions from the recent searchcompletions repository 2935 and the recent route directions repository2940.

The search completion manager 2910 looks up the recent searchcompletions repository 2935 and the recent route directions 2940 whenthe search completion manager 2910 receives a notification from thesearch query parser that the user has tapped the search field when thesearch field is empty. In some embodiments, the search completion mangerretrieves search completions and route directions used for a certainperiod of time (e.g., hours, days, weeks, etc.) before the tap input isreceived.

The search completion manager 2910 also directs the remote sourcesmanager 2920 and the local sources manager 2915 to look for searchcompletions based on the parsed search queries. The search completionmanager 2910 then receives search completions and route directions thatthe remote source manager 2920 and the local sources manager 2915return.

The search completion manager gathers the recent search completions, therecent route directions, the search completions and route directionsreceived from the remote and local sources mangers 2920 and 2915,respectively, and filters out any duplicate completions and directions.The search completion manager then send these completions and directionsto the list manager 2925.

The list manager 2925 orders the search completions and drivingdirections based on certain criteria. As mentioned above, these criteriainclude the time which the search completions and route directions areused, whether the completions and route directions are from the localsources or the remote sources, etc. The list manger 2925 then passes theordered list to a display manager (not shown) of the device 2905 so thatit can be displayed for the user.

The search completion manager also relays search requests (i.e.,complete search queries selected from search completions list or searchquery that had been typed in the search field at the time the userselects “enter” or search control) and selected route directions andpasses the requests and directions to a search request manager (notshown) which will conduct searches using the search requests or computeroutes. The search completion manager 2910 stores the search requests(i.e., search completions actually used to conduct searches) andselected route directions (i.e., identifications of starting anddestination locations) in the recent search completions repository 2935and the recent route directions repository 2940, respectively.

The recent completions repository 2935 and the recent route directionsrepository 2940 are memory spaces to store recently used search requestsand directions that have recently been used to compute routes. In someembodiments, the two repositories are caches for quick access.

The local sources manager 2915 looks up the contacts repository 2950 andthe bookmarks repository 2955 to find contacts (e.g., ME cards) andbookmarks that at least partially match the parsed search queriesreceived from the search completion manger 2910. The local sourcesmanager 2915 then generates search completions based on the matchingcontacts and bookmarks and return them to the search completion manager2910. The contacts and bookmarks stored in the repositories 2950 and2955 are generated, maintained, and/or accessed by applications that runon the device 2905 and these applications include the mappingapplication 2900.

The remote sources manager 2920 sends the parsed search queries receivedfrom the search completion manager 2910 to one or more servers (not allshown) including the search and map server 2960. The remote sourcesmanager 2920 receives search completions and/or route directionsreturned from the search and map server 2960 in response to the searchqueries sent to the server 2960. The remote source manager 2920 thensends the completions and route directions to the search completionmanger 2910.

As shown, the search and map server includes a search completionsrepository 2965 and a route directions repository 2970. In someembodiments, the search and map server stores search requests and routedirections that were used to compute routes in the repositories 2965 and2970. The search and map server 2960 receives these search requests androute directions from devices, including the device 2905, that runinstances of the mapping application of some embodiments, such as themapping application 2900. The search and map server then generates asuggested search completions and route directions to the device 2905. Insome embodiments, the search and map server includes two servers servingmap data and generating routes, respectively. The search completionsrepository 2965 and the route directions repository 2970 of someembodiments are data storage structures for storing search request androute directions.

2. Clearing Search Results Through Search Field

In addition to allowing a user to initiate a search, the presence of thesearch field in the primary map view in some embodiments also allowsusers to see the query corresponding to search results on the map and toremove those search results by clearing the query. FIG. 30 illustratesthe user clearing results from a map 3000 in three stages 3005-3015.

The first stage 3005 illustrates the map displaying a pin 3025 for“Pizza Place.” This pin 3025 may have been placed on the map 3000through various different mechanisms. For instance, the user may havedropped a pin on the map and received a reverse direction's lookup, orthe user may have entered a search query for “Pizza Place 321.”

The second stage 3010 illustrates the user selecting an “X” button 3030within the search field 165 that is used to clear any search querydisplayed in the search field 165. Furthermore, when clearing the searchquery, all search results (pins) displayed on the map that are relatedto the displayed search query will also be cleared from the map 3000.The third stage illustrates that after the user selects the “X” button3030, the search field 165 is now empty and the pin for “Pizza Place” isno longer displayed on the map.

FIG. 31 illustrates four stages 3105-3120 of a user's interaction withthe application running on a user's device in order to clear a selectedsearch result displayed on the map.

The first stage 3105 shows the device after the mapping application hasopened. The second stage 3105 illustrates the application displaying asearch table 3140 after receiving the user's tapping of the searchfield. This search table is displayed regardless of whether or not theuser provides any search terms in the search field. The search table3140 provides a list of suggested search completions, including recentlysearched terms and route directions. In particular, the search tableindicates that the user recently searched for “John Smith” and“Pizzeria.” The search table also lists the user's recent routedirections, which includes directions to “Royal Burgers” illustrated atthe bottom of the search table 3140. Also, the search table 3140 listsan option to obtain directions from the user's current location to theirhome address, which is illustrated as the first item of the search table3140. The top bar 140 includes the direction control 160 and thebookmark control 170.

The second stage 3110 illustrates the user's selection of the directionsto “Home.” The second stage 3110 also illustrates that the mappingapplication of some embodiments removes the direction control 160 andthe bookmark control 170 from the top bar 140. The mapping applicationinserts a cancel control 2055.

The third stage 3115 illustrates the mapping application displaying aroute corresponding to directions from the user's current location totheir home. As shown, the route has two pins for the start and endingpoints of the route. The mapping application of some embodiments alsoremoves the cancel control 2055 from the top bar 140 and places theclear control 255 and the start control 2060. The third stage 3115 alsoillustrates the selection of the clear control 255. The fourth stage3120 illustrates that the search field 165 is now empty and the pins forthe start and end points for the route are no longer displayed on themap because the mapping application of some embodiments removed themfrom the map upon receiving the selection of the clear control 255.

B. Zoom Level Settings for the Map Displaying Search Results

When the user is viewing the map in a certain view and executes a searchquery, some embodiments will transition to a new map view that containsthe search results for the user's query. The particular type oftransition may include continuously adjusting the map zoom levels andpossibly displaying an animation between the original map view and thenew map view. The application considers a variety of factors in decidingthe particular type of transition and whether or not to provide ananimation between the different map views. Some factors may include thedistance between the different map views given their particular zoomlevels, the data available for providing an animation between the mapviews, the data bandwidth capabilities of the user's internetconnection, and various other factors.

FIG. 32 illustrates a process 3200 that some embodiments perform todetermine the particular type of transition to display between a user'scurrent map view and a target map view that contains search results fora user's executed search query. The process 3200 in some embodiments isperformed by the mapping application. The process 3200 in someembodiments starts when the mapping application produces the searchresults based on a user's search query.

The process 3200 begins by retrieving (at 3205) the search results. Theprocess then defines (at 3210) the original region and the targetregion. The process 3200 in some embodiments considers the map beingdisplayed to the user. The process 3200 defines this map display as thecurrent map view that contains the original map region. The process 3200then determines a proposed target map view with a target map region thatit needs to display to the user in order to provide the optimal map viewthat displays some or all of the search results.

In some embodiments, the process 3200 initially defines (at 3210) theoriginal region and the target region at the same zoom level. In somesuch embodiments, the process 3200 initially keeps the zoom level forthe original region and sets the zoom level of the target region to thezoom level of the original region. The process 3200 also sets theorientation of the target region to the orientation of the originalregion. Moreover, different embodiments locate the target regiondifferently. For instance, the process 3200 in some embodiments definesthe target region to include at least one search result. Also, theprocess 3200 of some embodiments defines the target region by takingaverage coordinates of the search results and set the center of thetarget region to the average coordinate.

Next, the process 3200 determines (at 3215) whether the original regionand the target region overlap at least partially. When the process 3200determines (at 3215) that the two regions overlap at least partially,the process 3200 proceeds to 3225, which is described further below.

When the process 3200 determines (at 3215) that the original and targetregions do not overlap, the process 3200 determines (at 3220) whetherthe two regions are separated by more than a threshold distance. In someembodiments, the process 3200 computes this threshold distancedynamically based on the current zoom levels of the original region andthe target region. For instance, the computed threshold value isinversely proportional to the zooming levels. That is, the more theregions are zoomed in, the shorter the computed threshold distance is.

When the process 3200 determines (at 3220) that the two regions areseparated by more than the threshold distance, the process 3200 displays(at 3230) the target region without animating from the original regionto the target region. Otherwise, the process displays (at 3235) ananimation to the target region from the original region. Differentembodiments employ different animation techniques. For instance, theprocess 3200 in some embodiments employs cross fading of the originalregion and the target region to transition from the original region tothe target region. The process 3200 in some embodiments may transitionfrom the original region to the target region as if the viewpoint of thevirtual camera overseeing the original region is moving to the targetregion.

When the process 3200 determines (at 3215) that the original region andthe target region overlap at least partially, the process determines (at3225) whether to modify the target region. The operation 3225 isdescribed in further detail below by reference to FIG. 33. The process3200 then determines (at 3240) whether to display animation to targetregion. The operation 3240 is described in further detail below byreference to FIG. 34.

FIG. 33 illustrates a process 3300 that some embodiments perform todetermine whether to modify the target region when the target region andthe original region initially defined by the mapping application atleast partially overlap. The process 3200 in some embodiments isperformed by the mapping application.

The process 3300 begins by determining (at 3305) whether (1) theoriginal region includes any search result and (2) the zoom level of theoriginal region is less than a threshold zooming level (i.e., theoriginal region is not zoomed out more than a threshold zoom level).When the process determines (at 3305) that the original region does notinclude any search result or the zoom level of the original region isnot less than the threshold zooming level, the process 3300 proceeds to3315, which is described further below.

When the process determines (at 3305) that the original region includesat least one search result and the zoom level of the original region isless than the threshold zooming level, the process 3300 uses (at 3310)the original region as the target region. The process 3300 then proceedsto 3335, which is described further below.

When the process determines (at 3305) that the original region does notinclude any search result or the zoom level of the original region isnot less than the threshold zooming level, the process 3300 determines(at 3315) whether the original region includes any search result. Whenthe process 3300 determines (at 3315) that the original region includesat least one search result, the process 3300 proceeds to 3335, which isdescribed further below.

When the process 3300 determines (at 3315) that the original regionincludes no search results, the process 3300 expands (at 3320) theoriginal region to include at least one search result and uses expandedoriginal region as the target region. Different embodiments expand theoriginal region differently. For instance, in some embodiments, theprocess 3300 expands in all directions from the center of the originalregion to include at least one search result while in other embodimentsthe process 3300 expands not in all directions from the center of theoriginal region to include at least one search result. In some suchembodiments, the process 3300 expands in such a way to include a searchresult that is closest to border of the original region.

Next, the process 3300 determines (at 3325) whether (1) the mostimportant result is outside the target region and (2) all search resultsin the target region are significantly less important. Differentembodiments assess the importance of a search result differently. Forinstance, some embodiments quantify the closeness of the search query tothe search results and uses the quantified closeness to determine theimportance. In particular, the process 3300 of some embodiments wouldconsider the closest search result as the most important search result.Other embodiments employ other techniques to assess the importance of asearch report. Moreover, the process 3300 of some embodiments willconsider that a search result is significantly less important thananother search result when the difference between the quantifiedcloseness for the two search results is greater than a thresholddifference.

When the process 3300 determines (at 3325) that the most importantresult is outside the target region and all search results in the targetregion are significantly less important, the process 3300 expands (at3330) by a certain size to include one or more search results. Theprocess 3300 then loops back to 3325 to make another determination tosee whether to expand the target region further.

When the process 3300 determines (at 3325) that the most importantresult is not outside the target region or all search results in thetarget region are not significantly less important, the process 3300expands (at 3335) the target region further when it is necessary to makesure the target region can accommodate any UI (e.g., an informationalbanner) associated with the search results. The process 3300 then ends.

FIG. 34 illustrates a process 3400 that some embodiments perform todetermine whether to display animation from the original region to thetarget region when (1) the target region and the original regioninitially defined by the mapping application at least partially overlapand when the target region was considered for modification. The process3400 in some embodiments is performed by the mapping application.

The process 3400 begins by determining (at 3405) whether the zoom levelsof the original and the target regions are different in more than afirst threshold difference. In some embodiments, the first thresholddifference represents the upper threshold difference between the zoomlevels of the original and the target regions. In such case, the zoomlevels of the original and the target regions are consideredsignificantly different.

When the process 3400 determines (at 3405) that the zoom levels aresignificantly different, the process 3400 displays (at 3410) the targetregion without displaying an animation from the original region to thetarget region. When the process 3400 determines (at 3405) that the zoomlevels are not significantly different, the process 3400 determines (at3415) whether the zoom levels are different in more than a secondthreshold difference. In some embodiments, the second thresholddifference represents the lower threshold difference between the zoomlevels of the original and the target regions. When the differencebetween the zoom levels is below the upper threshold and the lowerthreshold value, the zoom levels of the original and the target regionsare considered moderately different.

When the process 3400 determines (at 3415) that the zoom levels of theoriginal and the target regions are moderately different, the process3400 displays (at 3420) an animation from the original region to thetarget region. When the process 3400 determines (at 3415) that the zoomlevels of the original and the target regions are not moderatelydifferent nor significantly different, the process 3400 determines (at3425) whether the original region includes all the search results.

When the process 3400 determines (at 3425) that the original regionincludes all the search results, the process ends. Otherwise, theprocess 3400 proceeds to 3430 to determine whether displaying theanimation would result in making more search results visible. Theprocess 3400 in some embodiments examines the animation to see whetherany search results would be rendered while the animation is displayed.

When the process 3400 determines (at 3430) that displaying the animationwould result in making more search results visible, the process 3400displays (at 3420) the animation from the original region to the targetregion. Otherwise, the process 3400 ends.

FIG. 35 illustrates four stages 3505-3520 of a situation where theapplication displays a transition to a target map region containing acorresponding search result without providing any animation between thecurrent map view and the target map view. The first stage 3505illustrates an original region of a map that shows, e.g., Cupertino,Calif. The map is at a particular zoom level that displays variousfreeways. The user is also adjusting this map, through gestural input)to zoom in to a more detailed view, as indicated by the movement of theuser's thumb and index finger in an outward direction.

The second stage 3510 illustrates that the map is now at a more detailedzoom level (i.e., zoomed in), with several individual streets displayedincluding “First Street”, “Main Street” and “Second Street.” The user isalso tapping the search field 165 to initiate a search. The third stage3515 illustrates the user entering the search query “Smithsonian” intothe search field and selecting “Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C.”from the suggested search completion list in a search table 3555.

Upon selecting Washington, D.C., the application instantly displays amap of Washington D.C. without providing any animation. BecauseCupertino, Calif. and Washington, D.C. are separated by a significanton-screen distance for the current map view and particular zoom level,the application instantly jumps to the map of Washington, D.C. withoutproviding any animation in this example. For this given search, theapplication has determined that the on-screen distance between the mapregion displayed in the stage 3510 and the target map region required todisplay Washington D.C. is greater than a particular threshold, andthus, providing an animation for the given zoom level is not reasonableor feasible.

In some embodiments, when the target map region is too far away (e.g.,beyond a threshold distance of hundreds of miles or thousands of miles)from the currently displayed map region or the user's current location,the mapping application displays a message (e.g., “Did you mean XYZplace in location A . . . ?”) to ask whether the user has reallyintended to search the far-away target region. Alternatively orconjunctively, the mapping application may audibly present the message(e.g., by reading the message) to the user. In some embodiments, themapping application does not provide the search results until the userresponds to the message. In some embodiments, the mapping applicationprovides alternative search results in addition to the message. Forinstance, the mapping application may provide a list of search results(e.g., “Smith's Onion, Cupertino, Calif.”) that could be found within ornear the currently displayed region or may provide the results ofrunning a search with a search query that is similar, but is related toa location closer to the currently displayed region. If the user choosesthe alternative results, the mapping application will display the searchresults on a region of the map that is closer to the currently displayedregion.

FIG. 36 illustrates four stages 3605-3620 of a situation in which theapplication detects search results within the original current map viewand, thus, does not need to zoom the map or display an animation to anynew target map region. The first stage 3605 illustrates a user viewing amap 3630 of Cupertino, Calif. The map 3630 is at a particular zoom levelthat displays various freeways. The user is also adjusting this map tozoom in to a more detailed view, as indicated by the movement of theuser's thumb and index finger in an outward direction.

The second stage 3610 illustrates that the map is now at a more detailedzoom level, with several individual streets displayed including “FirstStreet”, “Main Street” and “Second Street.” The user is also tapping thesearch field to initiate a search. The third stage 3615 illustrates theuser entering the search query “Coffee Shop” into the search field andselecting Coffee Shop, located at “First Street” from the suggestedsearch completion list in the search table. Upon selecting Coffee Shop,the application displays the same current map view that the user wasviewing prior to the search request as shown in the fourth stage 3620.Since the search result for Coffee Shop located at First Street may beviewed in the user's current map view, the application does not need toadjust the zoom settings or provide any animation to display the targetmap region. The application has set the target map region containing therelevant search results to the current map region and, in doing so, hasavoided changing between the views of different regions of the map.

FIG. 37 illustrates in four different stages 3705-3720 that the mappingapplication of some embodiments zoom out of the current map region viewin order to present several search results found based on a searchquery. The first stage 3705 illustrates the mapping application afterthe user has entered a search query “Tech Companies Cupertino.” Thesearch table 3755 displays a list of search results including a previoussearch query 3760. As shown, the user is selecting the search query 3760from the search table 3760. The mapping application of some embodimentsstores the search results for searches conducted using the mappingapplication.

The second stage 3710 shows the map of the current location at adetailed zoom level, with several individual streets displayed including“First Street”, “Main Street” and “Second Street.” Since the searchresults the tech companies in Cupertino are not located within theoriginal current map region of the current map view, the application ofsome embodiments expands the map view so that the target region includesall of the search results that are located in the target region. Themapping application of some embodiments also determines that ananimation of the map view from the current map region to the targetregion is needed because the zoom levels of the current region and thetarget region are significantly different.

The third stage 3715 illustrates the map at a different zoom level. Themapping application displays the map at this zoom level only momentarilyas part of the animation that the mapping application displays in orderto zoom out of the map to a zoom level for displaying the target regionthat is bigger than the original region. In some embodiments, themapping application displays a 2D/3D transition as part of theanimation.

The fourth stage 3720 illustrates the map at the zoom level of thetarget region. That is, the mapping application has completed displayingthe animation to the target region from the original region displayed atthe second stage 3710.

In some embodiments, the mapping application varies the duration of ananimation for transitioning from the original region to the targetregion based on the amount of change involved in the transition. Forinstance, the mapping application of some embodiments animates thetransition for a short duration when the original region and the targetregion are not too far or when the original and the target regionoverlap. The mapping application displays a longer animation when thedistance between the two regions is relatively large (e.g., hundreds ofmiles). In some such embodiments, when the distance between the tworegions is very large (e.g., thousands of miles), the mappingapplication may not display an animation at all.

III. Controls for Preview of Items on Maps

Some embodiments of the invention provide a novel user interface forpresenting different types of detailed information about a point ofinterest (POI). This user interface is referred to as a “stage” in thedescription above and below. A stage in some embodiments includes adisplay area for displaying images of the POI and several tabs underwhich different types of information about the POI are grouped andpresented to the user.

The mapping application of some embodiments provides several differentways to display a stage for a POI. As described above, the mappingapplication of some embodiments displays a banner above each of the pinsthat are displayed as search results. The user can select an item in thebanner for a POI to open up the stage for that POI. The mappingapplication also allows the user to open up the stage of a POI byselecting the POI from a list of POIs that the mapping application ofsome embodiments presents for the search results of a search query. Themapping application also allows the user to open up the stage afterdropping a pin at a location. Moreover, the mapping application allowsthe user to open up the stage for the current location.

FIG. 38 conceptually illustrates a GUI 3800, which is a “stage” for aselected POI. Specifically, FIG. 38 illustrates in six different stages3805-3830 a mapping application of some embodiments that displays a 3Danimation of the POI in a media display area 3835 of the GUI 3800. Thisfigure illustrates that the GUI 3800 includes the media display area3835, tabs 3840, information display area 3845, and a top bar 3850.

The media display area 3835 of some embodiments is for displayingdifferent media of the POI. In some embodiments, the mapping applicationinitially displays a 3D animation of the POI when the GUI 3800 islaunched. For instance, when the POI is a building, the mappingapplication shows an animated 3D view of the building and the building'ssurroundings. In some embodiments, the mapping application displays thebuilding as if the building is viewed from a camera mounted on ahelicopter that is circling around the top of the building.

Different embodiments generate the 3D animation (3D video presentation)differently. For instance, the 3D animation is a video clip captured bya video capture device of an object orbiting the earth or a manned orunmanned aircraft flying at lower altitudes (e.g., a satellite, a spaceshuttle, an airplane, a helicopter, etc.).

The mapping application in some embodiments generates the 3D videopresentation by performing a blending operation (e.g., the threedimensional perspective blending operation) on several images that arecaptured for a particular location by flying objects such ashelicopters, airplanes, satellites, etc. These images can be stillimages or images from a part of a video clip captured by these objects.

In some embodiments, the 3D rending operation generates the video clipsfrom multiple images by transitioning through the images in a set amountof time. In some embodiments, this transition results in multiple videoframes being generated by capturing different subsets of images fromdifferent perspective rendering positions in 3D scenes at differentinstances in time.

In some embodiments, the mapping application generates the 3D videopresentation by moving a virtual camera above and around the POI (e.g.,a building) and its surroundings in the 3D immersive map view or in theflyover view. For instance, the mapping application may move the virtualcamera as if the virtual camera is shooting a video of the POI and thesurroundings from a flying object circling around the top of thebuilding. The virtual camera and the 3D immersive map view are describedin detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/632,035, now issued asU.S. Pat. No. 9,111,380, entitled “Rendering Maps,” concurrently filedwith this application. This concurrently filed application isincorporated herein by reference.

When the data for the animated 3D view of the POI is not available(e.g., the data is not available in the map server or other localstorage), the mapping application of some embodiments finds the nextavailable type of image to display in the display area 3835. Forinstance, the mapping application may display a satellite view of thePOI.

When the data for the animated 3D view of the POI is available but itrequires some time to obtain the necessary data to display the animated3D (e.g., because of a slow network connection of the device to thesource of the necessary data), the mapping application of someembodiments identifies the next available type of media for that POI anddisplays that media in the media display area 3835 first. For instance,the mapping application of some embodiments displays in the mediadisplay area 3835 a satellite image of the POI. In some embodiments, inorder to provide an animated effect, the mapping application rotates(e.g., clockwise) the satellite image of the POI rather than staticallydisplaying a 2D satellite image.

When enough data for displaying the animated 3D view is obtained, themapping application of some embodiments switches from displaying thesatellite image of the POI to displaying the animated 3D view of thePOI. The mapping application of different embodiments uses differenteffects to make the switch. For instance, the mapping application ofsome embodiments cross fades the 2D satellite image into the animated 3Dview of the POI. In other embodiments, the mapping application mayemploy a Ken Burns effect to display the 3D animated view from thesatellite image.

In some embodiments, the mapping application determines the type ofmedia of the POI to initially display in the media display area 3835based on the type of POI that is selected. For instance, when the POI isa restaurant, the mapping application of some embodiments initiallydisplays images of culinary dishes the restaurant offers or interiorimages of the restaurant. When displaying such images, the mappingapplication of different embodiments employs different effects todisplay different images. The different effects that the mappingapplication may use include a Ken Burns effect, vignette effect,cross-fading, tiling, slide show, etc.

The mapping application of some embodiments overlays informational texton the media displayed in the media display area 3835. In someembodiments, the informational text is displayed toward the left side ofthe media display area 3835 as shown in the third stage 3815. However,the location of the informational text may be anywhere (e.g., center) inthe media display area 3835. In some embodiments, the mappingapplication applies different effects to the portion of the mediadisplay area on which the informational text is overlaid so that thetext appears legible. For instance, the mapping application may changethe color of that portion or make the portion blurry. In otherembodiments, the mapping application does not modify the image to makethe informational text legible. Instead, the mapping application adjuststhe informational text to make it legible as the portion of the imageoverlaid by the text changes.

The mapping application of some embodiments may also switch to othertypes of media from the type of media that is initially displayed whenthe GUI 3800 is launched. For instance, when the user selects an entryfrom the entries displayed under a “media” tab (not shown), the mappingapplication displays in the media display area 3835 the imagesassociated with the selected entry or plays back in the media displayarea 3835 a video associated with the selected entry.

The tabs 3840 are tabs for displaying different sets of entries groupedfor different types of information associated with the different tabs.In some embodiments, the GUI 3800 initially includes an “Info” tab, a“Reviews” tab, and a “Photos” tab as shown. When the info tab isselected, the mapping application displays in the information displayarea 3845 entries related to general information about the POI. Asshown, the general information about the POI includes a phone number, aURL for the POI, address, etc. The entries to display when the reviewstab is selected include all the reviews gathered by informationaggregation entities (e.g., Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and suppliedto the mapping application. Similarly, the entries to display when thephotos tab is selected include photos gathered by the informationaggregation entities. The tabs and entries displayed in the informationdisplay area 3845 is described in detail further below.

The top bar 3850 of some embodiments includes a back button 3895 forgoing back to the state prior to launching the GUI 3800. When the mapwith search results had been displayed prior to displaying the GUI 3800,the back button 3895 would indicate that the mapping application goesback to displaying the map with the search results. When the list ofPOIs had been displayed prior to displaying the GUI 3800, the backbutton 3895 indicates that the mapping application goes back todisplaying the list.

The operation of the GUI 3800 is now described. At the first stage 3805,the mapping application displays a pin 3860 and a banner 3865 as aresult of entering a search query “Famous Building.” The next stage 3810shows that user selects the arrow 3875 to launch the “stage” for thisPOI.

At the third stage 3815, the GUI 3800 has been launched. The mappingapplication displays the initial set of components of the GUI 3800,which includes the top bar 3850, the media display area 3835, the tabs3840, and the information display area 3845. In the media display area3835, the mapping application displays an animated 3D view of the famousbuilding and other buildings near the famous building.

The mapping application also displays informational text about thefamous building on the left side of the media display area 3835. Thedisplayed information includes the name of the building, the address,star rating, and the number of reviews, as shown in media display area3835. Behind the text, the mapping application initially displays animage of the famous building. As shown, the building appears fadedbecause the mapping application has faded the portion of the image thatappears behind the information text in order to make the text moreprominent and legible. At this stage 3815, the information display area3835 displays general information about this building (e.g., phonenumber, URL of the building, address, etc.) because the info tab is adefault tab selection in some embodiments.

The next stage 3820 shows that the viewpoint of the virtual camera haschanged such that the famous building appears next to the displayedinformational text. Some other neighboring buildings are displayedbehind the informational text. The viewpoint of the virtual camera alsostarts to circle around the top of the famous building.

The next stage 3825 shows that the virtual camera has moved to anotherside of the famous building. As shown, the “FMS BLDG” shown on a side ofthe building now appears in a southwest direction of the media displayarea 3845 in order to show that the virtual camera has movedcounterclockwise with respect to the top of the building. The encircled“H” on top of the building also appears rotated since the last stage3820. Furthermore, because the viewpoint of the virtual camera haschanged, different neighboring buildings are displayed behind theinformational text.

The next stage 3830 shows that the virtual camera has moved to yetanother side of the famous building. The virtual camera has kept movingand is now on the side of the building from which “FMS BLDG” is nolonger visible. The encircled “H” on top of the building appears furtherrotated. The mapping application of some embodiments keeps showing thisanimated 3D animated view (i.e., will have the virtual camera keepcircling the top of the building) until the user provides further input(e.g., input to close the GUI 3800, selects photos from the entriesunder the photos tab, etc.).

In some embodiments, the mapping application uses a 3D renderingoperation to generate 3D presentation in its other mode of operation.For example, in some embodiments, the mapping application uses thisoperation to generate a 3D video presentation whenever a user performs asearch for a particular location or specifies other search criteria, orwhenever the user explores a location on the map. FIG. 39 illustrates infive different stages 3905-3925 an example of the mapping applicationusing a 3D rending operation to show a particular search result.

The first stage 3905 illustrates the mapping application displaying asearch table 3940 after receiving the user's entry of a first letter ofa search query in the search field 165. As shown, the search table 3940includes several search completions including “X Corp.,” “X Station 555. . . ,” and “Promenade X.” The first stage 3905 also illustrates thatthe “X Corp.” is selected.

The second stage 3910 illustrates a 3D map view 3910 as indicated by the3D control 150 being highlighted. In some embodiments, the mappingapplication automatically shows 3D animation of the POI when the userviews the POI in 3D mode. The mapping application of some suchembodiments still allows the user to rotate the map view (e.g., with twofinger gesture). In some embodiments, the mapping application startspresenting 3D animation of the POI after a certain amount of time (e.g.,a few seconds) elapses without receiving input from the user. The secondstage 3910 also illustrates that the mapping application starts topresent 3D animation of the building. As shown, the 3D animation isshowing sides 1 and 2 of the X Corporation's building with side 2 havingX Corporation's name. In this example, the 3D animation is a 3D videopresentation shot from a flying object circling counterclockwise aroundthe top of the building.

The third stage 3915 illustrates that the viewpoint has changed and thebuilding appears to rotate clockwise as the flying object is circlingcounterclockwise. The 3D presentation is showing sides 2 and 3 of the XCorporation's building. The “H” sign on top of the building has alsobeen rotated as shown.

The fourth and fifth stages 3920 and 3925 show further rotations of thebuilding as the flying object is circling clockwise. The mappingapplication of some embodiments repeats the 3D presentation until theuser provides an input (e.g., two finger gesture, input to exit the 3Dmode, etc.) that stops or changes the animation.

FIG. 40 conceptually illustrates the GUI 3800. Specifically, FIG. 40illustrates in eight different stages 4005-4040 that the mappingapplication of some embodiments initially displays an animation of thesatellite image of the POI in the media display area 3835 of the GUI3800 and switches to a 3D animation of the POI when enough data for the3D animation is obtained for displaying the 3D animation.

At the first stage 4005, the mapping application displays a pin 4060 anda banner 4065 as a result of entering a search query “MyWork Building.”The user has also selected the lower right corner of the map to peel offthe map and display a set of buttons, which are described above. Thenext stage 4010 shows the user selecting the “list” button 4070 to causethe mapping application to display the search results as a list.

At the third stage 4015, the mapping application displays a list of POIsafter the user has selected list button 4070 at the previous stage 4010.The list in this example happens to include only one POI because thesearch query was sufficiently targeted for a specific result. The nextstage 4020 shows the user selecting the entry 4075 to launch the “stage”for this POI. As shown, the user has selected the “MyWork Building” POI.

At the fifth stage 4025, the GUI 3800 has been launched. However, incontrast to the stage 3815 described above by reference to FIG. 38, themapping application displays a satellite image of the actual buildingassociated with the “MyWork Building” POI. The satellite image alsoshows other buildings near the building rather than an animated 3D viewof the building. The satellite image is a 2D image of the top of thebuilding taken from a significant distance from the top of the building(i.e., from a satellite). As shown, the mapping application also fadesthe portion of the image overlaid by the informational text so that thetext appears clearly legible.

The next stage 4030 shows that the mapping application has rotated thesatellite image clockwise to animate the satellite image. At the nextstage 4035, the mapping application is cross fading the satellite imagewith the 3D animated view of the building because the mappingapplication has obtained enough data (e.g., from the map server or othersource of the data) to display the 3D animated view of the building.

The next stage 4040 shows that the virtual camera for the 3D animatedview has moved to another side of the “MyWork Building.” As shown, theblack corner of the building now appears on the east direction of themedia display area 3835 in order to show that the virtual camera hasmoved counterclockwise with respect to the top of the building. Also,because the viewpoint of the virtual camera has changed, differentneighboring buildings are displayed behind the informational text asshown.

FIG. 41 conceptually illustrates the GUI 3800. Specifically, FIG. 41illustrates in six different stages 4105-4130 that the mappingapplication of some embodiments initially displays images of the POI inthe media display area 3835 of the GUI 3800 rather than an animatedimage of the building when images of the POI are more meaningful andinformational to the user. For instance, when the selected POI is abusiness place (e.g., a restaurant or a coffee shop), the mappingapplication determines appropriate images to display based on userexpectations. For example, the mapping application may show images ofavailable food items and drinks of a restaurant, or show images of theinterior setting of a coffee shop, etc., because such images may be morein line with user expectations rather than displaying exterior images ofthe building edifices in which the se businesses are situated.

The first and second stages 4105 and 4110 are similar to the stages 3805and 3810, respectively, in that the mapping application displays a setof POIs from which the user may select a POI. The second stage 4110shows the user selecting a “Little Coffee Shop.”

At the third stage 4115, the GUI 3800 has been launched. However, incontrast to the stages 3810 and 4025 described above by reference toFIGS. 38 and 40, the mapping application displays a set of images (e.g.,images of coffee, donuts, etc.) rather than the images of the buildings.These images, as mentioned above, are gathered by information gatheringentities such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. from which the mappingapplication obtains the information related to the selected POI.

Also as mentioned above, the mapping application of differentembodiments employs different techniques to display the images. In thisexample, the mapping application is using a Ken Burns effect tosequentially display the images. The mapping application at this stage4115 displays an image of a cup of coffee and a muffin that the LittleCoffee Shop offers to customers (it is assumed that the customer or theowner of the shop snapped the image uploaded it to an informationgathering entity, such as Yelp).

The next stage 4120 shows that the mapping application has zoomed in onthe cup of coffee and the muffin as part of showing the images using theKen Burns effect. The next stage 4125 shows that the mapping applicationis applying a cross fade to the image of the coffee and muffin with animage of the interior of the Little Coffee Shop. The next stage 4130shows that the mapping application has completely zoomed in on the imageof the interior.

FIG. 42 conceptually illustrates a process 4200 that some embodimentsperform to display different types of images when a “stage” is launchedfor showing detailed information about a POI. Specifically, the process4200 is performed for displaying media in a media display area of thestage (e.g., the media display area 3835 displayed above by reference toFIGS. 38, 40, and 41). The process 4200 is performed by a mappingapplication in some embodiments. The process starts when the mappingapplication displays results of a search query.

The process 4200 begins by receiving (at 4205) a selection of a POI. Theprocess 4200 receives the selection in one of several different ways.For instance, the process 4200 receives the selection when the userselects an arrow displayed in a banner displayed above a pin for the POIabout which the user wishes to find more information. The process 4200may also receive the selection when the user selects one of the POIsfrom a list of POIs that the mapping application of some embodimentsdisplays upon the user's selection of a “list” button.

The process 4200 next determines (at 4210) the preferred order fordisplaying the different types of images. As mentioned above, there aredifferent types of images that the mapping application of someembodiments displays. In some embodiments, the different types of imagesinclude images for the animated 3D view, satellite images, plain mapimages, images related to businesses (e.g., images of dishes offered,images of the interior setting, images of employees of the business,etc.).

In some embodiments, the process 4200 determines the preferred orderbased on the type of POI selected. For instance, when the POI is abusiness such as a restaurant, the process 4200 favors displaying imagesof available dishes offered by the restaurant. When the POI is a famouslandmark like the Empire State Building, the process 4200 favorsdisplaying images of the building and its surroundings. The process 4200analyzes the data for the selected POI to determine the type of POI whendetermining the preferred order.

There are also different levels of images for a particular type ofimage. For instance, for images of landmarks, the different levels ofimages include animated 3D images, satellite images, plain map images,etc. These different image levels will contain different amounts of dataand therefore take different amounts of time to retrieve the datathrough the network. For instance, the animated 3D images will likelycontain the most amounts of data and therefore take the longest todownload over the network from the source of the data.

The process 4200 then determines (at 4215) whether the data for thecurrent level of images is available from the source. The process 4200in some embodiments obtains the data from a map server or other serverthat serves the data upon receiving a request. However, not every POIhas every level of images in the server. For instance, a building thatis not well known or famous will likely not have image data fordisplaying a 3D animated view of the building. In some embodiments, bydefault, the current level of images to display is initially set to the3D animated images level.

When the process 4200 determines (at 4215) that the data for the currentlevel of images is not available, the process 4200 selects (at 4220) thenext level of images to display for the POI. For instance, when theimages for the animated 3D view are not available for the selected POI,the process 4200 selects (at 4220) the satellite image of the POI. Theprocess 4200 then loops back to 4215 to determine whether the data forthis next level of images is available.

When the process 4200 determines (at 4215) that the data for displayingthe current level of images is available, the process 4200 determines(at 4225) whether all of the data has been received and whether themapping application is ready to display the current level of images. Insome cases, when the device on which the mapping application is runninghas a slow network connection through which to obtain the image datafrom the remote servers, there might not be enough image data to displaythe current level of images for the POI.

When the process 4200 determines (at 4225) that sufficient data fordisplaying the current level of images has been obtained, the process4200 proceeds to 4230, which is described further below. When theprocess 4200 determines (at 4225) that the data for displaying thecurrent level of images is not available, the process 4200 displays (at4235) the next level of images ready to be displayed. That is, theprocess 4200 displays (at 4235) one of the next levels of images forwhich enough data has been obtained. When none of the next levels ofimages have enough data for displaying the images, the process 4200displays a plain background image (a black image) in the media displayarea.

The process 4200 then determines (at 4240) whether the mappingapplication has obtained enough data for the current level of images.For instance, when the process 4200 displays a satellite image of thePOI in the media display area, the process 4200 checks whether enoughdata for the animated 3D view has been obtained. When the process 4200determines (at 4240) that insufficient data for the current level ofimages has been obtained, the process loops back to 4235 and keepsdisplaying the next level of images in the media display area whilechecking whether the data for the current level of images is ready.

When the process 4200 determines (at 4240) that enough data for thecurrent level of images has been obtained, the process switches (at4245) from the next level of images being displayed in the media displayarea to the current level of images. For instance, when the data for the3D animated view is ready for display while displaying the satelliteimage of the POI, the process 4200 switches to the animated 3D view ofthe POI from the satellite image of the POI. Different embodiments usedifferent techniques to make this switch. For instance, the process 4200may apply a Ken Burns effect to make the transition from the next levelof images to the current level of the images. The process 4200 nextdisplays (at 4230) the current level of images. The process 4200 thenends.

FIG. 43 conceptually illustrates the GUI 3800. Specifically, FIG. 43illustrates in four different stages 4305-4320 that the tabs 3840 arenot scrolled off the “stage” (i.e., the GUI 3800) of a selected POI. Insome embodiments, the GUI 3800 is scrollable. That is, the components ofthe GUI 3800 such as the media display area 3835, the tables 3840, andthe information display area 3845 move up and down as the user scrollsthe GUI 3800 up and down.

As mentioned above, the tabs 3840 are tabs for displaying different setsof entries grouped for different types of information associated withthe different tabs. That is, the mapping application of some embodimentsobtains the data that is related to the POI from different datagathering entities (e.g., tweets, RSS feeds, updates from Facebook,Yelp, Yahoo, Twitter, blogs, etc.) and categorizes the data intodifferent groups based on the type of information contained in the data.For instance, the mapping application would categorize pieces of datacarrying reviews about the POI into a “reviews” group and display themas entries in the information display area 3845 when the user selectsthe “reviews” tab. Different embodiments use different techniques torecognize the type of information that a piece of data is carrying. Forinstance, the mapping application looks for a set of keywords in thepieces of data.

Examples of tabs that the user might create or the mapping applicationmay additionally provide include “activities” or “events” tabs which,when selected, would include any time-related information about the POI.For example, if the selected POI is a Major League ballpark, the entriesunder this tab may include information about the scheduled games for theteam associated with the ball. As another example, when the selected POIis a movie theater, a selection of an entry may cause the mappingapplication to launch a ticket purchase application (e.g., Fandango)which the user can use to buy tickets for the available movies at thattheater. One of ordinary skill will recognize that there are many otherpossible tabs that may be created with various functionalitycorresponding to the type of tab.

In some embodiments, the mapping application allows the user to create anew group by defining several keywords that the mapping application usesto sift the obtained pieces of data. In these embodiments, the mappingapplication adds a new tab for the new group and lists the pieces ofdata that include the keywords when the new tab is selected. When themapping application includes a threshold number of tabs that can bedisplayed for a stage of the POI, the mapping application of someembodiments renders the tabs 3840 scrollable (e.g., horizontally) sothat the user can scroll the tabs 3840 and select any desired tab. Themapping application of some embodiments also allows the user to removean undesired tab.

As mentioned above, the GUI 3800 is scrollable vertically. However, thetabs 3840 will not get scrolled off the screen of the device regardlessof the user's scrolling of the GUI 3800. That is, for example, when theGUI 3800 is scrolled upward such that the tabs 3840 would have fallenoff of the screen, the mapping application of some embodiments keeps thetabs 3840 within the screen display area and slides the informationdisplay area 3845 underneath the tabs 3840.

An example operation of the GUI 3800 when the user scrolls the GUI 3800is described by reference to the four stages 4305-4320 of FIG. 43. Thefirst stage 4305 shows the GUI 3800 that is launched after the user'sselection of the “Little Coffee Shop” from the map displaying the pinand banner for this POI or from the list of POIs.

The second stage 4310 shows the user making an upward swiping gesturefrom a location of the GUI 3800. The third stage 4315 shows that themedia display area 3835, the tabs 3840, and the information display area3845 have moved up within the screen. In particular, the media displayarea 3835 has almost entirely been scrolled off the screen, appearing tohave slide underneath the top bar 3850. The mapping application has alsoexpanded the information display area 3845 to display more entries forthe selected info tab. The user is also making another upward swipinggesture (or continuing the initial upward swiping gesture, with orwithout pause) to scroll the GUI 3800 further up.

The fourth stage 4315 shows that the tabs 3840 have moved up below thetop bar 3850 and the user moving the GUI 3800 even further up. However,the tabs 3840 have not fallen off of the screen nor slid underneath thetop bar 3850. The mapping application has also stopped expanding theinformation display area 3845. As the user scrolls up the GUI 3800further, the mapping application slides entries displayed in theinformation display area 3845 underneath the tabs 3840 and the top bar3850 and brings out from the bottom of the information display area 3845more entries that were previously not displayed in the informationdisplay area 3845, as shown in the fourth stage 4320.

The fourth stage 4320 also illustrates that the mapping application ofsome embodiments displays a set of selectable UI items 4360-4380. The UIitem 4360 is for showing directions to the POI from the currentlocation. The UI item 4365 is for showing directions from the POI to thecurrent location. The UI item 4370 is for adding this POI into thecontacts list of the mapping application. The UI item 4375 is forsharing this POI with other mapping applications for other devices ofother users. The UI item 4380 is for adding this POI as a bookmark.

FIG. 44 conceptually illustrates the GUI 3800. Specifically, FIG. 44illustrates four different stages 4405-4420 of the mapping applicationof some embodiments for launching a third-party application when theuser selects an entry displayed in the information display area 3845.

In some embodiments, when an entry is selected from a list of entriesdisplayed upon a selection of a tab of the “stage” for a selected POI,the mapping application launches a third-party application or opens upthe third-party's website in a browser application that is concurrentlyrunning on the device on which the mapping application is running. Thethird-party application is typically the source (e.g., Yelp) of theselected entry. For example, when the user taps on a review displayed inthe information display area 3845, the mapping application of someembodiments launches the third-party application (e.g., a Yelpapplication) to show the full text of the selected review or to allowthe user to add a new review. In these embodiments, the mappingapplication will also provide means for the user to get back to the“stage” for the POI (e.g., the GUI 3800). For instance, the mappingapplication may display a “back” button in a top bar for the third-partyapplication, which when selected will cause the “stage” for the POI tore-display.

In other embodiments, the mapping application does not launch athird-party application when an entry is selected from the list ofentries. Instead, the mapping application will display the informationassociated with the entry “in place.” That is, for example, the mappingapplication may expand the entry in the information display area 3845and display the full review or provide the means to add a new reviewwithout leaving the mapping application. The mapping application ofthese embodiments would utilize an application programming interface(API) to request and obtain the full review from the source. The API insome embodiments is provided by the source (e.g., Yelp).

The first stage 4405 of FIG. 44 illustrates a user's selection of thereviews tab 4450. In the second stage 4410, the mapping application,upon receiving the selection, displays several reviews related to theLittle Coffee Shop. As shown, the reviews originate from differentsources such as Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, etc. In some embodiments, eachreview entry includes limited amounts of information. The mappingapplication of some of these embodiments allows the user to view thefull review when the user selects the particular entry.

The second stage 4410 displays a user's selection of a review 4455 fromthe list of reviews displayed in the information display area 3845. Inthis example, the review 4455 originated from Yelp, as shown. The thirdstage 4415 shows that the mapping application has launched the Yelpapplication. The Yelp application displays the full content of thereview 4455. The top bar 4460 of the page includes a “back” button,which when selected causes the mapping application to display the GUI3800 again with the “reviews” tab selected. The third stage 4415 alsoshows the user selecting the back button. The fourth stage 4420 showsthe GUI 3800 displayed once again. This stage shows the GUI 3800identical to the GUI 3800 at stage 4410.

FIG. 45 conceptually illustrates the GUI 3800. Specifically, FIG. 45illustrates four different stages 4505-4520 of the mapping applicationof some embodiments for launching a third-party application when theuser selects a UI item for the third-party application.

The first stage 4505 illustrates a user's selection of the reviews tab4550 when the info tab 4555 is the currently selected tab. In the secondstage 4510, the mapping application, in response to receiving theselection of the reviews tab, displays reviews related to the LittleCoffee Shop. As shown, each review entry includes a thumbnail image ofthe person, star rating of the person, the date the review was uploaded,and the review (depicted as lines). The reviews originate from differentsources such as Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, etc. The second stage 4510 alsoillustrates that the user is scrolling up the GUI 3800.

The third stage 4515 illustrates that the mapping application of someembodiments displays a set of selectable UI items 4560-4575 towards thebottom of expanded information display area 4545 as the GUI 3800 isscrolled up. The UI item 4560 is for launching a third-party application(e.g., Yelp's mobile application) or a website (e.g., Yelp's website) toview more reviews on the POI. The UI item 4565 is for launching anotherthird-party application (e.g., Facebook's mobile application) or awebsite (e.g., Facebook's website) to trigger a special feature that thethird-party application offers (e.g., check-in from Facebook). The UIitem 4570 is for adding a quick tip. In some embodiments, a quick tip isa type of review in which the mapping application does not have to relyon a third-party application (i.e., without going through thethird-party application or a website). The UI item 4575 is for adding areview. In some embodiments, the selection of the UI item 4575 causesthe mapping application to launch a third-party application or a websiteto leave a review. The third stage 4515 also shows the selection of theUI item 4560.

The fourth stage 4520 illustrates a third-party application (e.g.,Yelp's mobile application) that allows the user to add a review aboutthe POI.

In some embodiments, the information provided by a third-partyapplication (e.g., Yelp) may be different for different users based onthe user's personal preferences for the particular third-partyapplication. In order to determine a particular user's preferences, themapping application communicates with the third-party application todetermine the user's preferences and to retrieve information tailoredfor the user. In some embodiments, in order to display the user'spersonalized information from the third-party application, the user musthave the third-party application installed on the same device that theuser is using to run the mapping application. Furthermore, the user mustalso be currently logged into the third-party application in someembodiments. For example, a user must have the Yelp applicationdownloaded on the same device they are using to run the mappingapplication and the user must be logged on the Yelp application at thetime that they are accessing the Yelp feature from the mappingapplication. If the user satisfies these conditions, the particularinformation about a POI that gets displayed using the mappingapplication for the user will be tailored according to their personalpreferences. Thus, different users will see different information on thePOI based on the user's personal preferences.

In order to apply a particular user's preferences, the mappingapplication and the third-party application must first verify certaininformation. The mapping application initially verifies with thethird-party application that the user is currently logged into thethird-party application. After verifying that the user is currentlylogged into the application, the mapping application forwards datarelated to the particular POI (e.g., identification of the particularPOI) in which the user is interested to the third-party application. Thethird party application retrieves the information related to the POI forthe particular user and returns the information to the mappingapplication. The mapping application then displays the information “inplace” (e.g., without going to the third-party application) to the useraccording to the user's preferences in some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the mapping application obtains authenticationinformation (e.g., a token) from the third-party application. Themapping application uses this token to access the server serving up theinformation about POIs to the third-party application. For instance, theYelp application has been authenticated and authorized to access theYelp server. Then, the mapping application can be authorized to accessthe Yelp server by using the authentication information obtained fromthe Yelp application running on the same device. In these embodiments,the user's personal preferences would be maintained by the server sothat when the mapping application asks for information (e.g., reviews)about a POI, the server returns the information that is conforming tothe user's preferences. In other embodiments, it is not required thatthe user has logged into the third party application. In theseembodiments, the mapping application may have the user log in directlyto the server through the mapping application.

FIG. 46 illustrates the two mapping application instances running on twodifferent devices for two different users 4601 and 4602 (users not shownin the figure) showing two different sets of information for the samePOI obtained from a particular third party application that is runningon the two different devices. FIG. 46 illustrates the mappingapplication for each user in three stages 4605-4615.

During the first stages 4605, both users are viewing the map view of themapping application. They have both searched for “Little Coffee Shop”using the search bar. Both users are also selecting the arrow (notshown, blocked by fingers 4603 and 4604 of the users 4601 and 4602,respectively) to launch the stage of the POI. At the second stages 4610,the GUI 3800 has been launched. The mapping application displays variousinformation regarding the POI, including the address, telephone number,URL for the website, and user reviews, as shown. The users 4601 and 4602are both also selecting the reviews tab 4550 to obtain informationregarding user reviews of the coffee shop.

At the third stages 4615, the GUI 3800 shows the reviews obtained fromthe third-party application (e.g., Yelp). However, the user reviews thatare displayed are different for the two users 4601 and 4602 becausethese reviews are retrieved based on the user's personal preferences.The first user sees three reviews by Jane, Bo and Sue whereas the seconduser sees reviews from Jon, Brad and Nat. This may occur when the users4601 and 4602 have specified different personal preferences for theparticular third party application. The first user 4601 may haveindicated to the third-party application (i.e., Yelp in this example),that the user 4601 only wants to see reviews made by “food experts” andthus the reviews from Jane, Bo, and Sue who are experts are displayed.The second user 4602 may have indicated that the user 4602 wants to seereviews from everyone, and thus the reviews from Jon, Brad, and Nat whomay be experts and non-experts are displayed. Thus, each user obtainsinformation from the third-party application for a particular POI thatis customized and tailored to their personal preferences.

FIG. 47 conceptually illustrates the GUI 3800. Specifically, FIG. 47illustrates in three different stages 4705-4715 that the mappingapplication of some embodiments displays a tag on a tab in a stage for aselected POI and displays a particular piece of information when the tagis selected.

In some embodiments, the mapping application displays a tag on a tab ofthe GUI 3800 to indicate an entry, which would be displayed uponselection of the tab, includes special information about the POI. Forinstance, a tag could be a “deal” tag that shows the POI has a deal andthat information about the deal may be included in one of the entriesthat would be displayed upon the selection of the tag or the tab thathas the tag on it. As such, a tag serves as an unread mark thatindicates that there is an entry that the user has not viewed since theentry was obtained from its respective source.

The first stage 4705 shows the GUI 3800. The reviews tab 4450 has a tag4750 attached to the tab. In some embodiments, the tag 4750 appears onthe tab 4450 when an entry that includes information about the deal ofthe POI exists. The mapping application of different embodiments usesdifferent appearances of tags. For instance, in some embodiments, thetag resembles a physical tag that is attachable to a document. The tagalso includes one or more dollar signs to indicate that the POI has amoney-saving deal for the customers of the POI.

The next stage 4710 displays a selection of the tag 4750 (e.g., bytapping). The third stage 4715 shows that the tag has disappeared fromthe tab 4450 and an entry for the deal is displayed in the informationdisplay area 3845. In some embodiments, the mapping application insteadlaunches a third-party application or opens up the third-party's websitein a browser application that is running on the device on which themapping application is running. The third-party application or thewebpage will then show the details of the deal for the selected POI.

FIG. 48 conceptually illustrates an example of the “stage” (e.g., theGUI 3800) of a POI displayed in a display area of a device 4820 thatprovides a relatively large display area. An example of such a device isa tablet device (e.g., iPad® sold by Apple Inc.). Specifically, FIG. 48illustrates in three different stages 4805-4815 a user's interactionwith the mapping application to display the “stage” for a particularPOI. As illustrated, the device 4820 provides a larger screen displayarea 4825 for viewing the mapping application compared to a device thathas a relatively small display area (e.g., a smartphone such as iPhone®sold by Apple Inc.). The larger display area allows the mappingapplication to efficiently utilize the screen space to display differentGUIs within the same map view and to minimize switching to different GUIscreens. In particular, when a user selects the arrow for a particularPOI, the mapping application opens up the “stage” for the POI directlyoverlaid on top of the map view of the mapping application withoutchanging to a new GUI page.

At the first stage 4805, the mapping application displays a pin 4830 anda banner 4835. The banner may be the result of a user entering a searchquery for “Little Coffee Shop”. The second stage 4810 illustrates theuser selecting the arrow 3875 to launch the “stage” for this POI. At thethird stage 4815, the mapping application has launched the GUI 3800 forthe stage. The GUI 3800 is displayed in its entirety within the map viewof the mapping application. In some embodiments, when the user isviewing the mapping application in a portrait orientation, the mappingapplication displays the “stage” for a particular POI in its entirety.In some embodiments, when the user views the mapping application on atablet in a landscape orientation, the mapping application displays the“stage” for the POI, but the user may be required to scroll through the“stage” to view all of the information.

IV. Route Generation

As mentioned above, the mapping application tightly integrates thesearch and route identification experience by providing severaldifferent ways to get directions. One such way is through a selectabledirection UI control (e.g., button) on the main map view (e.g., in thetop left corner), which when selected presents a modal interface forediting directions and that enables the user to request more customizedroutes, such as routes that do not begin from the current location or awalking route instead of just driving routes.

In some embodiments, the mapping application allows the user to inspectthese customized routes by sliding the signs showing maneuverinstructions in and out of the UI page showing a route. This mode ofoperation of the mapping application is referred to as a routeinspection mode or (manual) stepping mode, which is one of several modesof operation in which the mapping application of some embodiments iscapable of operating. Examples of these operational modes include anavigation mode, a map browsing mode, and the route inspection mode.

A juncture is where two or more road segments meet. A route is a pathbetween a starting location and a destination location in the map. Atypical route has zero or many junctures along the path between the twolocations. A maneuver instruction for a juncture in the route identifiesthe direction of the road segment to advance from the juncture. In someembodiments, the mapping application provides the user with a maneuverinstruction only for some of the junctures along the route because theuser may not need to perform a maneuver at every juncture in the routein order to reach the destination location. For instance, the usercarrying the device may recognize that the user only needs to gostraight by passing through several junctures until the user reaches ajuncture at which to make a turn to get to the destination location. Inthis patent application, when a juncture has a maneuver instruction todisplay, that maneuver instruction is referred to as a “step.”

In the navigation mode, the mapping application of some embodimentsprovides the user with a set of steps for a route between the device'scurrent location to a destination location. Typically, the mappingapplication provides the user with these steps visually and audibly inthe navigation mode. When the user carrying the device deviates from theroute, the mapping application of some embodiments tracks the locationof the device and re-calculates a new route from the deviated locationin order to re-direct the user to the destination location from thedeviated location. In other words, the mapping application of someembodiments operating in the navigation mode requires the device to beon a route at all times. Also, the mapping application of someembodiments operating in the navigation mode displays the steps by“popping up” the step rather than sliding the steps in and out of thedisplay area. Furthermore, the information in the step (i.e., themaneuver instruction) that the mapping application displays whileoperating in the navigation mode is dynamic in some embodiments. Thatis, information such as estimated time of arrival, remaining time of thetrip to the destination location, remaining distance from the currentlocation of the device to the destination location or the next juncturewith next step, etc. get updated by the mapping application as thedevice is moving along the route.

In the route inspection mode, the mapping application of someembodiments allows the user to slide the steps in and out of the displayarea to inspect each step in the route. Alternatively, the mappingapplication allows the user to manipulate the map (e.g., by zooming inand out, sliding the map in different directions) to display differentjunctures in the route. When a juncture with a step is displayed in thedisplay area as a result of the user's manipulation of the map, themapping application displays the step by sliding in the step (andsliding in and out any intermediate steps between the previouslydisplayed step and the currently displayed step). In this manner, theuser can inspect the route by manually sliding the steps in and out ofthe display area or by manipulating the map to display certain juncturesof the route in the display area.

A. Route Initiation and Search

FIG. 49 illustrates an example in terms of four stages 4905-4920 of auser's interaction with the mapping application to obtain routingdirections. Specifically, this figure illustrates that the mappingapplication starts to operate in the route inspection mode. The firststage 4905 illustrates the device after the user has selected thedirection control 160 (not shown in this figure). The first stage 4905also illustrates that the user has entered starting and ending locationsfor the route in the starting and ending fields 245 and 250.

The second stage 4910 illustrates the selection of the route generationcontrol 240. In some embodiments, when the route generation control isselected, the mapping application sends the starting and endinglocations information to a remote server to obtain the routes. The thirdstage 4915 shows two routes, route 1 and route 2 which the mappingapplication renders on the map based on the route information obtainedfrom the remote server in some embodiments. The third stage 4915 alsoillustrates that the mapping application has selected route 1 bydefault. The user selects the start control 4950 for starting thenavigation according to the selected route. The mapping application ofsome embodiments starts to operate in the route inspection mode uponreceiving a selection of the start control 4950.

The fourth stage 4920 illustrates that the mapping application displaysan instruction sign 4930, which in some embodiments is the first sign ofa series of turn-by-turn instruction signs (not all of them shown in thefigure) for browsing the selected route. The mapping application allowsthe user to browse the selected route by sliding the signs along aparticular axis (e.g., horizontally). These scrollable instruction signsare described in detail further below. In some embodiments, the mappingapplication allows the user to browse the selected route when thestarting location of the selected route is not the user's currentlocation. Also, the mapping application of some embodiments disables ordoes not display the page curl when the mapping application is in thismode for allowing the user to browse or inspect a selected route asshown in this stage 4920.

In addition to entering starting and ending locations for the route inthe starting and ending fields 245 and 250, the mapping application ofsome embodiments allows the user to select a route from a list ofpreviously searched routes. FIG. 50 illustrates an example in terms offour stages 5005-5020 of a user's interaction with the mappingapplication to obtain routing directions. This example is provided inthe context of using the direction control 160 to obtain a route betweentwo locations.

The first stage 5005 illustrates the mapping application displaying amap of a street view of a city. The user is initiating a tap of thedirection control 160 located at the top left corner of the display nextto the search field 165. The second stage 5010 next illustrates that theapplication presents a search table 5055 with a list of recent routedirections that the user has previously searched. In this example, theuser selects a route to a police station as shown.

The third stage 5015 illustrates the display of a map with the selectedroute between the device's current location to the destination for theselected route. This stage 5015 also illustrates the selection of thelist view control 235. The fourth stage 5020 illustrates that themapping application presents a list of turn-by-turn instructions to getto the destination. As shown, each instruction in the list includes adirection icon 5035 that shows the directions for the particular turnassociated with the instruction. In some embodiments, each instructionin the list looks identical to a corresponding instruction sign 4935described above by reference to FIG. 49.

FIG. 51 conceptually illustrates an example of displaying routingdirections in a display area of a device that is relatively large. Anexample of such a device is a tablet device (e.g., iPad® sold by AppleInc.). Specifically, FIG. 51 illustrates in three different stages5105-5115 a user's interaction with the mapping application to display aset of routing directions. As illustrated, the device provides a largerscreen display area for viewing the mapping application when compared todisplay areas of smaller devices (e.g., a smartphone such as iPhone®sold by Apple Inc.). The larger display area allows the mappingapplication to efficiently utilize the screen space to display differentUI items within the map view of the mapping application and to minimizechanging the UI screens. For instance, when a user selects to view alist of routing directions, the mapping application displays the listrouting directions directly overlaid onto the map without changing to adifferent UI screen.

The first stage 5105 illustrates a tablet device 5120 running a mappingapplication of some embodiments that is displaying a map view of aparticular route between two locations. In particular, the user hasobtained a route between the user's current location and the locationfor the POI “Pizza Place”. The user may have obtained this route throughseveral avenues, including the search feature, placing pins on the map,and various other mechanisms. The mapping application is also displayinga set of floating controls, including the list view control 145.

The second stage 5110 shows that the user is selecting the list viewcontrol 145 to obtain a list of the routing directions. The third stage5115 illustrates that the mapping application now displays the list ofrouting directions overlaid on a portion of the map view of the mappingapplication.

In some embodiments, when the user selects individual routing directionsfrom the list of routing directions, the mapping application displaysthe corresponding portion of the route associated with the selectedrouting direction on the map. If the corresponding portion of the routeis not within the currently displayed map region, the mappingapplication shifts the map such that the region of the map that containsthe corresponding portion is displayed.

B. Route Display and Review

In some embodiments, the mapping application allows a user to select andscroll through a set of selectable UI items representing the signs ofthe junctures along a selected route when the application presents theidentified route to the user. As the user scrolls through each sign, theportion of the route associated with the currently in-focus sign ispresented or highlighted (e.g., through color highlighting or throughanother geometry such as a circle or other mark, marking the portion).This operational mode of the mapping application of some embodiments isreferred to as a route inspection mode. The mapping applicationoperating in this mode allows the user to inspect the road bymanipulating the UI items representing the instructional signs of somejunctures of the route. In some embodiments, the mapping applicationoperates in the route inspection mode (1) when the route being inspectedis between two locations, neither of which is the current location ofthe device on which the mapping application is running, and (2) when theroute is computed for walking (as opposed to driving) directions.

FIG. 52 illustrates an example of the route inspection mode in terms offour stages 5205-5220 of the user scrolling through a set of scrollableinstruction signs for a particular route selected by the user. The firststage 5205 illustrates the user initiating a selected route between thestarting and ending locations by tapping on the start control in the topbar 140. As described above, the second stage 5210 illustrates the firstscrollable sign 5225 (a selectable UI item) that is presented for theparticular route, as indicated by the “1 of 3” text displayed at thecenter on the top bar 140. Also, the mapping application is displaying acurrent juncture indicator 5290 on a juncture that the displayed sign5225 represents. More details about a current juncture indicator isdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/631,002, now publishedas U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0324164A1, entitled,“Mapping Application with Automatic Stepping Capabilities,” concurrentlyfiled with the present application. This concurrently filed patentapplication is incorporated herein by reference. The second stage 5210also illustrates the user initiating a swiping gesture to the left onthe first scrollable sign. The swiping gesture causes the sign to shiftto the left of the map. In some embodiments, the user can tap the signto shift it to the left (or right) of the map and display the next sign.

The third stage 5215 illustrates that a portion of the first scrollablesign 5225 has been scrolled off of the map display area and a new sign5235 for the route has become partially visible. The user can see thatthe new sign displays a right turn arrow. The mapping application hasnot moved the current juncture indicator 5290 because the sign 5225 isstill the current sign.

The fourth stage 5220 illustrates the display after the user hascompleted the swiping gesture of the first sign off of the map. Themapping application now displays the second sign 5235 for the list ofrouting directions, as indicated by the “2 of 3” text displayed at thetop bar 140. This sign indicates that in 0.1 miles, the user needs toturn right onto 7th Street. Furthermore, the application has zoomed inon a portion of the map display area and highlighted a new segment 5250of the route corresponding to the currently in-focus sign beingpresented. The application has also moved the current juncture indicator5290 to the juncture indicated by the second sign 5235.

Alternatively, or conjunctively, the user can scroll through each signby selecting different junctures of the route (e.g., by tapping) ornavigating the map (through gestural input) in order to view aparticular scrollable sign associated with a particular juncture. FIG.53 illustrates in terms of three stages 5305-5315 a user navigating themap in order to scroll through the different scrollable signs.

The first stage 5305 illustrates the map with the overlaid sign,corresponding to the “2 of 3” sign in the route, for a particularjuncture of the route between the starting and ending points. Theapplication has also highlighted the corresponding portion of the routefor this sign. The sign states that in 0.1 miles the user needs to turnright onto 7th Street. The first stage 5305 also illustrates that theuser initiated a swipe gesture to navigate the map (e.g., swiping theirfinger to the right) in order to view a different region of the map.

The second stage 5310 illustrates a new region of the map that isdisplayed after the swiping gesture, corresponding to a shift to theleft. The third stage 5315 illustrates that after the completed swipinggesture, a new scrollable sign is now overlaid on the map correspondingto the portion of the route that is now displayed in this particularregion of the map. This sign is the third sign in the route as indicatedby the “3 of 3” text displayed at the top center of the map. The signindicates that in 350 feet, the user will arrive at the destination.

In order to navigate a set of routing directions, the user has theoption to either scroll through the signs overlaid on the map, ornavigate the map to scroll through the different signs. Also, when theuser taps on a particular section of the route, the mapping applicationscrolls through the different signs to display a sign that correspondsto the particular section of the route. In some embodiments, the mappingapplication displays the sign for a juncture that is closest to thetapped portion of the route.

This scrolling feature of the mapping application allows a user toquickly ascertain all of the necessary maneuvers when traveling betweentwo locations. This may be especially helpful in driving situations thatrequire a significant number of lane changes to anticipate upcomingturns.

In some embodiments, the directional arrow shown in a scrollableinstruction sign is a simple arrow. In other embodiments, when there issufficient space on a sign or presentation for the use of a bigger sign,the mapping application of some embodiments in the navigation modeidentifies a maneuver to perform at a juncture along a route by using alarger graphical directional indicator that includes (1) a prominentstylized arrow roughly representing the path of the vehicle, and (2) ade-emphasized set of lines and curves corresponding to other elements ofthe junction. In some embodiments that use this approach, a right turnat a T-junction will be represented by a large arrow with a right-anglejoined with a smaller, dimmer segment that runs parallel to one of thelarge arrow's segments. The smaller segment in some embodiments willalso be pushed off to the side so that the path taken by the vehicledominates. More details about the arrows are described in a concurrentlyfiled U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/632,121, now published as U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0322634, entitled,“Context-Aware Voice Guidance,” concurrently filed with thisapplication. This concurrently filed U.S. Patent Application isincorporated herein by reference. In some embodiments, the mappingapplication uses a realistic looking road sign in place of theinstructions with direction icons.

FIG. 54 illustrates an example of displaying a set of scrollableinstructions signs for a particular route selected by a user. A device5400 on which the mapping application runs has a display area that isrelatively large. An example of such a device is a tablet device (e.g.,iPads®). This figure illustrates in two different stages 5405 and 5410 auser's interaction with the mapping application to step through theinstruction signs.

When the mapping application is running on a device with a largerdisplay area, the mapping application displays more signs in the displayarea at any given moment. In some embodiments, the mapping applicationdisplays a row of signs in the top portion of the display area with thecurrent sign in the middle of the top portion. The number of signs thatthe mapping application can display varies depending on the device'sorientation. That is, the mapping application can display more signswhen the display area is in a landscape orientation than when thedisplay area is in a portrait orientation.

The first stage 5405 shows that the mapping application is displayingthree signs 5415-5425 and a portion of a fourth sign 5430. In thisexample, the signs 5415-5430 represent the first through the fourthinstructions for the selected route that has a total of six steps. As atop bar 5435 indicates, the second instruction of the route is thecurrent instruction and the sign 5420 is highlighted and placed in themiddle of the top portion of the display area to indicate the sign 5420is representing the current instruction. The first stage 5405 also showsthat the user is swiping the sign 5420 to the left.

The second stage 5410 shows that the mapping application is displayingthe sign 5425 for the third instruction of the route in the middle ofthe top portion of the display area. In this example, the mappingapplication has also highlighted the sign 5425 and the section of theroute that corresponds to the sign is highlighted as shown. The top barindicates that the current instruction is the third of the sixinstructions of the route. Also, the sign 5415 is now mostly slid out ofthe display area and the sign 5430 is now displayed fully. The mappingapplication is also displaying a portion of a fifth sign 5445 thatrepresents the fifth instruction of the route.

The mapping application of some embodiments allows the user to switch toan overview mode while reviewing a selected route by scrolling theinstruction signs. In the overview mode, the mapping application of someembodiments adjusts the zooming level of the map such that the entireroute can be rendered on the map. The mapping application also allowsthe user to go back to the mode in which the user can resume reviewingthe directional instructions. FIG. 55 illustrates an example in terms ofthree stages 5505-5515 of the user's interaction with the application toswitch to the overview mode while reviewing a selected route.

The first stage 5505 is identical to the stage 5315 described above byreference to FIG. 53. That is, the user has scrolled to the lastinstructional sign 5520. The next stage 5510 illustrates the selectionof an overview control 5525.

The third stage 5515 illustrates the map in the overview mode. Themapping application of some embodiments shows the map in the overviewmode in response to receiving the selection of the overview control5525. The mapping application has zoomed out the map such that theentire route is displayed within the map. In some cases, the mappingapplication displays only a partial route from the current location ofthe device and the destination location when the current location of thedevice is very close (e.g., within 100 meters) to the destinationlocation.

Also, a top bar 5530 shows that the destination, which in this exampleis Police Station, is 7 minutes or 0.5 miles away from the currentlocation of the device or the starting location for this particularroute. The top bar 5530 now includes a resume control 5540, which insome embodiments is for resuming the navigation or inspection of theselected route. The mapping application also displays the list viewcontrol 235 in the map.

The top bar 5530 also shows the end control 5570. When the mappingapplication receives a selection of the end control 5570 while themapping application is showing the overview of the selected route, themapping application of some embodiments stops inspection of the selectedroute by going back to map browsing mode. The mapping application ofsome embodiments goes back to the map browsing mode by removing theselected route from the map, putting back the page curl, replacing theinformation and controls in the top bar with a set of other controlsincluding a direction control, a search field, and a bookmark control.The mapping application of some embodiments does not shift the map toanother region when switching to the map browsing mode from theinspection mode. The mapping application of some embodiments leaves thepins for the starting and destination locations in the map when themapping application goes to the map browsing mode.

FIG. 56 conceptually illustrates a process 5600 that some embodimentsperform to allow a user to browse through signs for a set ofinstructions for the junctures in a route between a starting locationand an ending location. In some embodiments, the process 5600 isperformed by the mapping application. The process 5600 starts when themapping application has computed one or more routes between the startinglocation and the ending location.

The process 5600 begins by receiving (at 5605) a selection of a route.As shown in FIG. 49 above, the mapping application of some embodimentsprovides a recommended route when there are two or more generated routesbetween the starting and ending locations. When the user does not selectanother route, the mapping application takes the recommended route asthe selected route upon receiving a selection of a start control, suchas the start control 4950.

Next, the process 5600 receives (5610) a user input for startingbrowsing mode. In some embodiments, the mapping application enters thebrowsing mode when the user selects a start control, such as the startcontrol 4950. At 5615, the process 5600 of some embodiments thendisplays a sign for the first juncture (i.e., the starting location) ofthe route and the sign's corresponding juncture (i.e., the firstjuncture) on the map.

The process 5600 then receives (at 5620) a user input. In someembodiments, the user input includes any gestural interaction with themapping application. For instance, the user can zoom or swipe a map bytouching one or more locations of the map. The user may also tap, swipe,etc., the currently displayed sign.

The process 5600 then determines (at 5625) whether the user input is formoving the currently displayed sign. In some embodiments, the process5600 determines that the user input is for moving the currentlydisplayed sign when the user taps the sign or swipes the sign in acertain direction. When the process 5600 determines that the user inputis not for moving the currently displayed sign, the process 5600proceeds to 5635, which is described further below.

When the process 5600 determines that the user input is for moving thecurrently displayed sign, the process 5600 displays (5630) a neighboringsign if possible according to the user input. For instance, the process5600 displays the next or previous sign for the next or previousjuncture in the route according to the user input. The process 5600 alsodisplays the corresponding juncture of the route. In some embodiments,the process 5600 may zoom or shift to another region of the map in orderto display the corresponding juncture of the sign being displayed. Theprocess 5600 then loops back to 5620 to receive another user input.

When the process 5600 determines (at 5625) that the user input is notfor moving the currently displayed sign, the process 5600 determines (at5635) whether the input is for displaying a juncture other than thecurrently displayed juncture. In some embodiments, the processdetermines that the input is for displaying a juncture when the usermanipulates the map (e.g., swipe, zoom, etc.) to display another regionof the map or when the user taps on a portion of the route that iscloser to another juncture of the displayed route. When the process 5600determines (at 5635) that the user input is not for displaying anotherjuncture, the process 5600 proceeds to 5645, which is described furtherbelow.

When the process 5600 determines (at 5635) that the user input is fordisplaying another juncture, the process 5600 displays (at 5640) theother juncture and the juncture's corresponding sign. This sign may notbe a neighboring sign of the currently displayed sign. The process 5600then loops back to 5620 to receive another user input.

When the process 5600 determines (at 5635) that the user input is notfor displaying another juncture, the process 5600 determines (at 5645)whether the user input is for showing an overview of the route. In someembodiments, the process 5600 determines that the input is fordisplaying the overview of the route when the mapping applicationreceives a selection of an overview control. When the process 5600determines (at 5645) that the user input is not for showing the overviewof the route, the process 5600 proceeds to 5670, which is describedfurther below.

When the process 5600 determines (at 5645) that the user input is fordisplaying the overview of the route, the process 5600 of someembodiments displays (at 5650) the entire route in the map. The processalso receives another user input while displaying the overview of theroute. The process 5600 then determines (at 5655) whether the input isfor ending the browsing mode. In some embodiments, the process 5600determines that the input is for ending the browsing mode when themapping application receives a selection of an end control, such as theend control 5570 described above by reference to FIG. 55. When theprocess 5600 determines (at 5655) that the user input is for ending thebrowsing mode, the process 5600 ends.

When the process 5600 determines (at 5655) that the user input is notfor ending the browsing mode, the process determines (at 5660) whetherthe input is for exiting the overview of the route. In some embodiments,the process 5600 determines that the input is for exiting the overviewwhen the mapping application receives a selection of a resume control,such as the resume control 5540 described above by reference to FIG. 55.

When the process 5600 determines (at 5660) that the input is not forexiting the overview mode, the process loops back to 5650 to display theroute and to receive another user input. When the process 5600determines (at 5660) that the input is for exiting the overview mode,the process exits the overview of the route and displays (at 5665) thesign and its corresponding juncture before showing the overview. Theprocess then loops back to 5620 to receive another user input.

When the process 5600 determines (at 5645) that the input received (at5620) is not an input for showing the overview of the route, the process5600 determines (at 5670) whether the input is for ending the browsingmode. In some embodiments, the process 5600 determines that the input isfor ending the browsing mode when the mapping application receives aselection of an end control. When the process 5600 determines (at 5670)that the user input is for ending the browsing mode, the process 5600ends. Otherwise, the process loops back to 5620 to receive another userinput.

C. Navigation Mode

FIG. 57 illustrates an example of a device 5700 that executes themapping application of some embodiments. This figure also illustrates anexample of launching a route navigation in this application. FIG. 57shows six stages 5705, 5710, 5715, 5717, 5719, and 5721 of interactionwith the mapping application. The first stage 5705 shows UI 5720, whichincludes several icons of several applications in a dock area 5725 andon a page of the UI. One of the icons on this page is the icon for themapping application 5730. The first stage shows a user's selection ofthe mapping application through touch contact with the device's screenat the location of this application on the screen.

The second stage 5710 shows the device after the mapping application hasopened. As shown in this stage, the mapping application's UI has astarting page that in some embodiments (1) displays a map of the currentlocation of the device, and (2) several UI controls arranged in the topbar 5740, and as floating controls.

The third stage 5715 of FIG. 57 illustrates that the selection of thedirection control 5760 opens the direction entry page 5780, which isshown in the fourth stage 5717. The direction control is one of threemechanisms through which the mapping application can be directed toidentify and display a route between two locations; the two othermechanisms are (1) a control in an information banner that is displayedfor a selected item in the map, and (2) recent routes identified by thedevice that are displayed in the search field 5765. Accordingly, theinformation banner control and the search field 5765 are two UI toolsthat the application employs to make the transition between thedifferent modalities seamless.

The fourth stage 5717 illustrates the user selecting one of the recentdirections that was auto-populated in the table 5782. The fifth stage5719 then shows three routes on a 2D map view between the specifiedstarting and ending locations specified through the page 5780. It alsoshows the selection of the second route and some information about thisroute in a bar at the top of the layout. This bar is shown to includestart and end buttons. The start button is shown to be selected in thefifth stage.

As shown by the sixth stage 5721, the selection of the start buttondirects the application to enter a turn-by-turn navigation mode. In thisexample, the application has entered a 2D turn-by-turn navigation mode.In other embodiments, the application will enter by default into a 3Dturn-by-turn navigation mode. In this mode, the application displays arealistic sign 5784 that identifies the distance to the next junctionmaneuver in the navigated route and some other pertinent information.The application also displays a top bar that includes some informationabout the navigation as well as End and Overview buttons, forrespectively ending the navigation and obtaining an overview of theremaining portion of the navigated route or the entire portion of thenavigated route in other embodiments.

The application further displays the floating 3D control 5750 and thefloating list control, which were described above. It should be notedthat the list control was adaptively added to the floating controlcluster upon entering the route inspection and route navigationmodalities, while the position indicator was removed from the floatingcontrol upon entering the route navigation modality. Also, upontransition from the route inspection mode to the route navigation mode,the application performs an animation in some embodiments that involvesthe page curl uncurling completely before the application transitionsinto the navigation presentation.

In some embodiments, the animation transition includes removing the topbar, its associated controls and the floating controls from thenavigation presentation, and moving the sign 5784 to the top edge of thepresentation a short time period after starting the navigationpresentation. As further described below, the application requires theuser to tap on the navigated map to bring back the top bar, its controlsand the floating controls, and requires another tap to remove thesecontrols again from the map, in some embodiments. Other embodimentsprovide other mechanisms for viewing and removing these controls.

The navigation application of some embodiments can display navigation ineither a 2D mode or a 3D mode. As mentioned above, one of the floatingcontrols is the 3D control 5750 that allows a user to view a navigationpresentation in three dimensions (3D). FIG. 58 illustrates how thenavigation application of some embodiments provides the 3D control 150as a quick mechanism for entering a 3D navigating mode. This figureillustrates this operation in three stages 5805-5815. The first stage5805 illustrates the user selecting the 3D control 150 while viewing atwo-dimensional navigation presentation.

The second stage 5810 illustrates the navigation presentation in themidst of its transition into a 3D presentation. As shown in this figure,the 3D control appears highlighted at this stage to indicate that thenavigation presentation has entered a 3D mode. As mentioned above, thenavigation application generates the 3D view of the navigated map insome embodiments by rendering the map view from a particular position inthe three dimensional scene that can be conceptually thought of as theposition of a virtual camera that is capturing the map view. Thisrendering will be further described below by reference to FIG. 59.

The third stage 5815 then illustrates the navigation presentation at theend of its transition into the 3D appearance. As shown by the differencebetween the heights of the buildings in the second and third stages, thetransition from 2D to 3D navigation in some embodiments includes ananimation that shows three dimensional objects in the navigated mapbecoming larger.

The navigation application of some embodiments is capable of displayingnavigation maps from multiple perspectives. The application can showmaps in three dimensions (3D) or in two dimensions (2D). The 3D maps aregenerated simulations of a virtual scene as seen by a virtual camera.FIG. 59 presents a simplified example to illustrate the concept of avirtual camera 5912. When rendering a 3D navigation map, a virtualcamera is a conceptualization of the position in the 3D map scene fromwhich the device renders a 3D view of the scene. FIG. 59 illustrates alocation in a 3D navigation map scene 5910 that includes four objects,including two buildings and two intersecting roads. To illustrate thevirtual camera concept, this figure illustrates three scenarios, each ofwhich corresponds to a different virtual camera location (i.e., adifferent rendering position) and a different resulting view that isdisplayed on the device.

The first stage 5901 shows the virtual camera 5912 at a first positionpointing downward at an angle (e.g., a 30 degree angle from the horizon)towards the 3D scene 5910. By rendering the 3D scene from the positionand angle shown in stage 5901 the application generates the 3D map view5918. From this position, the camera is pointing at a location that is amoving position in front of the device. The virtual camera 5912 is keptbehind the current location of the device. “Behind the current location”in this case means backward along the navigation application's definedpath in the opposite direction from the current direction that thedevice is moving in.

The navigation map view 5918 looks as though it was shot by a camerafrom above and behind the device's location indicator 5916. The locationand angle of the virtual camera places the location indicator 5916 nearthe bottom of the navigation map view 5918. This also results in themajority of the screen being filled with the streets and buildings aheadof the present location of the device. In contrast, in some embodiments,the location indicator 5916 is in the center of the screen, with half ofthe screen representing things ahead of the device and the other halfrepresenting things behind the device.

The second stage 5902 shows the virtual camera 5912 at a differentposition, pointing downward toward the scene 5910 at a larger secondangle (e.g., −45°). The application renders the scene 5910 from thisangle, resulting in the 3D navigation map view 5928. The buildings andthe roads are smaller than their illustration in the first navigationmap view 5918. Once again the virtual camera 5912 is above and behindthe location indicator 5916 in the scene 5910. This again results in thelocation identifier appearing in the lower part of the 3D map view 5928.The location and orientation of the camera also results again in themajority of the screen displaying things ahead of the car carrying thedevice, which is what someone navigating needs to know.

The third stage 5903 shows the virtual camera 5912 at a top-down viewthat looks downwards on a location on a 2D map that corresponds to thelocation in the 3D map scene 5910 that was used to render the 3D views5918 and 5928. The scene that is rendered from this perspective is the2D map view 5938. Unlike the 3D rendering operations of the first andsecond stages that in some embodiments are perspective 3D renderingoperations, the rendering operation in the third stage is relativelysimple as it only needs to crop a portion of the 2D map that isidentified by a zoom level specified by the application or the user.Accordingly, the virtual camera characterization in this situationsomewhat unnecessarily complicates the description of the operation ofthe application as cropping a portion of a 2D map is not a perspectiverendering operation.

In some embodiments, the virtual camera can be made to move by changingthe zoom level for viewing the map after the map enters a 3D mode, asfurther described below. In some of these embodiments, the applicationswitches to a top-down mode (where the rendering position faces straightdown) that produces 2D views when the zoom level reaches a particularzoom out level. As in the third stage 5903, the mapping application insome embodiments switches from rendering a 3D scene from a particularperspective direction to cropping a 2D scene when the camera switchesfrom the 3D perspective view to a 2D top-down view. This is because inthese embodiments, the application is designed to use a simplifiedrendering operation that is easier and that does not generateunnecessary perspective artifacts. In other embodiments, however, themapping application uses perspective rendering operation to render a 3Dscene from a top-down virtual camera position. In these embodiments, the2D map view that is generated is somewhat different than the map view5938 illustrated in the third stage 5903, because any object that isaway from the center of the view is distorted, with the distortionsbeing greater the farther the object's distance from the center of theview.

The virtual camera 5912 moves along different trajectories in differentembodiments. Two such trajectories 5950 and 5955 are illustrated in FIG.59. In both of these trajectories, the camera moves in an arc androtates more downward as the camera moves upward on the arc. Thetrajectory 5955 differs from the trajectory 5950 in that, in thetrajectory 5955, the camera moves backward from the current location asit moves up the arc.

While moving along one of the arcs, the camera rotates to maintain apoint ahead of the location indicator at the focal point of the camera.In some embodiments, the user can turn off the three dimensional viewand go with a purely two dimensional view. For example, the applicationsof some embodiments allow a three dimensional mode to be turned on andoff by use of a 3D button 5960. The 3D button 5960 is essential toturn-by-turn navigation feature, where it has a role as an indicator andtoggle. When 3D is turned off, the camera will maintain a 2D navigationexperience, but when 3D is turned on, there may still be some top-downperspectives when 3D viewing angles are not appropriate (e.g., whengoing around a corner that would be obstructed in 3D mode).

As another way of allowing the user to get navigation experience, themapping application of some embodiments provides a UI item in aninformational banner that appears by a pin that represents a POI. FIG.60 illustrates an example in terms of three stages 6005-6015 of a user'sinteraction with the mapping application to obtain routing directions.This example is provided in the context of using a car icon 6030.

The first stage 6005 illustrates a map in a 3D map view. As shown, the3D control 150 appears highlighted to indicate that the map is in a 3Dmap view. The first stage 6005 also illustrates two informationalbanners for the two pins for the search resulted from running a searchwith a search query “Pizza” as shown. The user selects the car icon6030. As mentioned above, the car icon 6030 is for showing one or moreroutes to the location that is represented by a pin with which thebanner that includes the car icon 6030 is associated. The banner 6040which includes the car icon 6030 also shows brief description of theplace, a star rating, and an arrow for launching a “stage” for the POI.

The second stage 6010 illustrates the two routes, route 1 and route 2,that the mapping application of some embodiments shows in response tothe selection of the car icon 6030 in the previous stage 6005. The userhas selected route 1 as indicated by highlighted banner 6050. The useralso selects the start control 2060. As mentioned above, the startcontrol 4950 in some embodiments is for starting the navigationaccording to the selected route.

The third stage 6015 illustrates that the mapping application displaysan instruction sign 6060, which is the sign for the first instruction.The mapping application has replaced the clear control 255 and the startcontrol 2060 with an end control 5570 and an overview control 6075 inthe top bar 140. The end control 5570 is for ending the navigation ofthe route and the overview control 6075 is for showing the entire routein the map view by adjusting the zoom level of the displayed map ifadjusting the zoom level is necessary to show the entire route. In someembodiments, the mapping application displays in the top bar 140 theestimated arrival time, the amount of time to get to the destination,and the remaining distance to the destination as shown.

When the mapping application receives a selection of the end control5570 while the mapping application is operating in the route inspectionmode, the mapping application of some embodiments stops inspection ofthe selected route by going back to map browsing mode. The mappingapplication of some embodiments goes back to the map browsing mode byremoving the selected route from the map, putting back the page curl,and replacing the information and controls in the top bar with a set ofother controls including a direction control, a search field, and abookmark control. That is, the mapping application takes the appearanceof the UI page back to a UI page similar to the UI page shown in thefirst stage 6005. The mapping application of some embodiments does notshift the map to another region when switching to the map browsing modefrom the inspection mode.

It should be noted that while neither the route history entries in thesearch field nor quick-route navigation control perform actions thatcannot be achieved with the selectable direction item, they serve asimportant accelerators that make it much easier to obtain the mostcommonly desired routes.

Some embodiments use a cinematic transition from the 2D map view intothe 3D map view or vice versa. For instance, when the mappingapplication receives a selection of the 3D control 150 while showing astarting location of a route, the mapping application begins from the 2Dmap view and transitions smoothly from a first virtual camera view forthe 2D map to a new virtual camera 3D view that is more zoomed in andpointing in the direction of the start of the route. In doing so, thevirtual camera map performs a combination of translation, zoom, androtation operations in order to reach the start of the route fornavigation. That is, the virtual camera moves in an arc and rotates moreupward as the camera moves downward along the arc. Also, the mappingapplication may rotate the arc itself to align the virtual cameraviewpoint to the initial road segment of the route. In other words, themapping application rotates the map during the cinematic transition.

FIG. 61 illustrates a device 6100 that displays a mapping application asthe application transitions from a non-immersive map view for mapbrowsing into an immersive map view for navigation, over six stages6105-6130.

The first stage 6105 illustrates a user selecting a quick-route buttonfor a location “Pizza Place” in order to generate a route from theuser's current location (near the center of the screen of device 6100)to the selected location. The second stage 6110 illustrates the mappingapplication displaying a route 6135 to reach the location “Pizza Place.”At the second stage 6110, the user selects the “Start” UI control 6140.Accordingly, the application begins entering navigation.

As shown at the third through sixth stages 6115-6130, some embodimentsuse a cinematic transition from the 2D (or 3D) non-immersive map viewinto the 3D immersive map view. The application display begins from itscurrent state (that shown at 6110) and transitions smoothly from thefirst virtual camera view to the new virtual camera view that is morezoomed in and pointing in the direction of the start of the route. Indoing so, the virtual camera may perform a combination of translation,zoom, and rotation operations in order to reach the start of the routefor navigation. As shown in these stages, the virtual camera moves androtates into its eventual location behind the navigation locationindicator (i.e., the puck) shown in the sixth stage 6130.

V. Multi-Mode Mapping Application

FIGS. 62A-62B conceptually illustrate a state diagram 6200 thatdescribes different states and transitions between these states of theintegrated mapping, search, and navigation application of someembodiments (e.g., the application described in the above sections). Oneof ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the application of someembodiments will have many different states relating to all differenttypes of input events, and that the state diagram 6200 is specificallyfocused on a subset of these events. The state diagram 6200 describesand refers to various gestural interactions (e.g., multi-touch gestures)for changing states of the application. One of ordinary skill in the artwill recognize that various other interactions, such as cursorcontroller gestures and button clicks, keyboard input, touchpad/trackpadinput, etc., may also be used for similar selection operations.

When a user initially opens the mapping application, the application isin state 6205, the map browsing state. In this state 6205, theapplication will have generated and displayed a map view. To generateand display this map view, the application of some embodimentsidentifies a required set of map tiles for a region, requests the maptiles (e.g., from a mapping service server), generates a view of the maptiles from a particular location, orientation, and perspective of avirtual camera, and renders the map view to a device display. When instate 6205, the map view is static. With the application in state 6205,the user can perform numerous operations to modify the map view, searchfor entities (e.g., places of interest, addresses, etc.), retrieve aroute for navigation, etc.

In some embodiments, the integrated application is displayed on a devicewith an integrated touch-sensitive display. Various gesturalinteractions over the map may cause the application to perform differentmodifications to the map view (e.g., panning, rotating, zooming,modifying the map perspective, etc.). When the integrated applicationreceives gestural interactions over the map display (as opposed to touchinputs over various floating or non-floating controls overlaid on themap display), the application transitions to state 6210 to performgestural input recognition.

The gestural input recognition state 6210 differentiates betweendifferent types of gestural input and translates these types of inputinto different map view modification operations. In some embodiments,the mapping application receives the gestural input as translated by theoperating system of the device with the integrated touch-sensitivedisplay. The operating system translates the touch input into gesturetypes and locations (e.g., a “tap” at coordinates (x,y), a “pinch”operation with separate touch inputs at two different locations, etc.).At state 6210, the integrated mapping application of some embodimentstranslates these into the different map view modification operations.

When the application receives a first type of gestural input (e.g., twoseparate touch inputs moving together in a rotational motion over themap view), the application transitions to state 6215 to rotate the map.To rotate the map view, some embodiments modify the location and/ororientation of the virtual camera that determines which portion of themap is rendered to create the map view. When in 3D mode, for example,the mapping application rotates the virtual camera about a particularposition (e.g., the center of the touch inputs, the center of thedisplay, a location indicator identifying the user's location, etc.). Asthe first type of gestural input continues, the mapping applicationremains in state 6215 to continue rotating the map.

When the user releases the first type of gestural input, the applicationof some embodiments transitions to state 6230 to perform an inertiacalculation. In some embodiments, after the user releases certain typesof touch inputs, the application continues to perform the associated mapview modification for a particular amount of time and/or distance. Inthis case, after the user releases the rotation input, the applicationtransitions to the inertia calculation state 6230 to calculate theadditional rotation amount and the time over which this rotation shouldbe performed. In some embodiments, the application slows down therotation from the (angular) velocity at which the map was being rotated,as if a “frictional” force was applied to the map. As such, the inertiacalculation of some embodiments is based on the speed of the first typeof gestural input. From state 6230, the application transitions back tothe map modification state that the application was previously in. Thatis, when the application transitions from state 6215 (the rotationstate) to the inertia calculation state 6230, it then transitions backto state 6215 after performing the inertia calculation. After therotation of the map is complete, the application transitions back tostate 6205.

When the application receives a second type of gestural input (e.g., asingle touch input moving over the map view), the applicationtransitions to state 6220 to pan the map. To pan the map view, someembodiments modify the location of the virtual camera that determineswhich portion of the map is rendered to create the map view. This causesthe map to appear to slide in a direction derived from the direction ofthe second type of gestural input. In some embodiments, when the mapview is in a 3D perspective mode, the panning process involvesperforming a correlation of the location of the touch input to alocation on the flat map, in order to avoid sudden unwanted jumps in themap view. As the second type of gestural input continues, the mappingapplication remains in state 6220 to continue panning the map.

When the user releases the second type of gestural input, theapplication of some embodiments transitions to state 6230 to perform aninertia calculation. In some embodiments, after the user releasescertain types of touch inputs, the application continues to perform theassociated map view modification for a particular amount of time and/ordistance. In this case, after the user releases the panning input, theapplication transitions to the inertia calculation state 6230 tocalculate the additional amount to move the map view (i.e., move thevirtual camera) and the time over which this movement should beperformed. In some embodiments, the application slows down the panningmovement from the velocity at which the map was being panned, as if a“frictional” force was applied to the map. As such, the inertiacalculation of some embodiments is based on the speed of the second typeof gestural input. From state 6230, the application transitions back tothe map modification state that the application was previously in. Thatis, when the application transitions from state 6220 (the panning state)to the inertia calculation state 6230, it then transitions back to state6220 after performing the inertia calculation. After the panning of themap is complete, the application transitions back to state 6205.

When the application receives a third type of gestural input (e.g., twoseparate touch inputs moving closer together or further apart), theapplication transitions to state 6225 to zoom in on or out of the map.To change the zoom level of the map view, some embodiments modify thelocation (i.e., height) of the virtual camera that determines whichportion of the map is rendered to create the map view. This causes themap view to include more (if zooming out) or less (if zooming in) of themap. In some embodiments, as the user zooms in or out, the applicationretrieves different map tiles (for different zoom levels) to generateand render the new map view. As the third type of gestural inputcontinues, the mapping application remains in state 6225 to continuezooming in on or out of the map.

When the user releases the second type of gestural input, theapplication of some embodiments transitions to state 6230 to perform aninertia calculation. In some embodiments, after the user releasescertain types of touch inputs, the application continues to perform theassociated map view modification for a particular amount of time and/ordistance (i.e., moving the virtual camera higher or lower). In thiscase, after the user releases the zoom input, the applicationtransitions to the inertia calculation state 6230 to calculate theadditional amount to zoom the map view (i.e., move the virtual camera)and the time over which this movement should be performed. In someembodiments, the application slows down the zooming movement from thevelocity at which the map was being zoomed in on or out of (i.e., thespeed at which the virtual camera changes height), as if a “frictional”force was applied to the camera. As such, the inertia calculation ofsome embodiments is based on the speed of the third type of gesturalinput. From state 6230, the application transitions back to the mapmodification state that the application was previously in. That is, whenthe application transitions from state 6225 (the zooming state) to theinertia calculation state 6230, it then transitions back to state 6225after performing the inertia calculation. After the zooming of the mapis complete, the application transitions back to state 6205.

For simplicity, the state diagram 6200 illustrates the map panning,zooming, and rotation processes using the same inertia calculationprocess (state 6230). However, in some embodiments, each of thesedifferent map modification processes actually uses a different inertiacalculation to identify the slow-down and stop for its particular typeof movement. In addition, some embodiments calculate and modify theinertia variables as the input is received rather than when the userremoves the gestural input.

When the application receives a fourth type of gestural input (e.g., twoseparate touch inputs moving up or down the touch-sensitive display inunison), the application transitions to state 6235 to modify theperspective view of the map. To change the perspective view of the map,some embodiments move the virtual camera along an arc over the map,modifying both the location and orientation of the virtual camera (asthe camera keeps the center of its field of view at a particularlocation on the map). In some embodiments, different zoom levels usedifferent arcs along which the virtual camera moves. Each of these arcshas a top point at which the virtual camera is pointing straight down,giving a 2D perspective view of the map. In addition, each arc has abottom point, that is the lowest point on the arc to which the virtualcamera can be moved. Thus, the fourth type of gestural input can causethe application to change between a 2D map view and a 3D perspective mapview in some embodiments. As the fourth type of gestural inputcontinues, the mapping application remains in state 6235 to continuemodifying the perspective view of the map.

When the user releases the fourth type of gestural input, theapplication of some embodiments transitions to state 6240 to perform aninertia calculation. In some embodiments, after the user releasescertain types of touch inputs, the application continues to perform theassociated map view modification for a particular amount of time and/ordistance (i.e., moving the virtual camera higher or lower). In thiscase, after the user releases the perspective view change input, theapplication transitions to the inertia calculation state 6240 tocalculate the additional amount to modify the perspective of the mapview (i.e., move the virtual camera along its arc) and the time overwhich this movement should be performed. In some embodiments, theapplication slows down the movement from the velocity at which the mapwas changing perspective (i.e., the speed at which the virtual cameramoves along its arc), as if a “frictional” force was applied to thecamera. As such, the inertia calculation of some embodiments is based onthe speed with which the fourth type of gestural input was performed.

In addition, for the perspective change operation, some embodimentstransition to a rebound calculation state 6245. As stated, theperspective change operation has a maximum and minimum perspective shiftallowed in some embodiments, which may depend on the zoom level of thecurrent map view. Thus, in addition to an inertia calculation, theapplication performs a rebound calculation at state 6245. The reboundcalculation uses the inertia calculation to determine whether themaximum point along the virtual camera arc will be reached and, if so,the velocity of the virtual camera at this point. Some embodiments allowthe virtual camera to move slightly past the maximum point to hit a“rebound” point, at which point the application turns the virtual cameraaround on its arc, moving it back toward the maximum point. Someembodiments include such a bounce-back functionality only on one end ofthe virtual camera arc (e.g., the bottom of the arc), while otherembodiments include the functionality on both ends of the arc. From therebound calculation state 6245, the application transitions back to theinertia calculation state 6240, then back to the perspective changingstate 6235 to display the map view movement. In addition, when the userperforms the fourth type of touch input for long enough and theperspective reaches its maximum point, the application transitionsdirectly from the state 6235 to state 6245 to calculate the reboundinformation and then transitions back to state 6235. After themodification to the perspective view of the map is complete, theapplication transitions back to state 6205.

The above states relate to the various multi-touch gestures over the mappresentation that the integrated mapping, search, and navigationapplication translates into different modifications to the mappresentation. Various other touch inputs can also cause the applicationto change states and perform various functions. For instance, someembodiments overlay a 3D selectable item on the map view (e.g., as afloating control), and selecting (e.g., with a tap input) the 3D itemcauses the application to transition to 6235 to modify the perspectiveof the map view. When the map view starts in a 3D perspective view, theapplication modifies the perspective into a 2D view; when the map viewstarts in the 2D view, the application modifies the perspective into a3D view. After the modification, the application returns to state 6205.

When a user is viewing a map in state 6205, the application presentsvarious labels as part of the map view. Some of these labels indicateplaces of interest, or other locations. When a user selects certainlabels (e.g., for certain businesses, parks, etc.), the applicationtransitions to state 6250 to display a banner for the selected location(e.g., an information display banner), then returns to the map browsingstate (with the banner displayed over the map). In some embodiments,this banner includes (1) a quick-route navigation UI control (e.g., abutton) that causes the application to retrieve a route (e.g., a drivingroute) from a current location of the device to the selected locationwithout leaving the map view and (2) an information UI control (e.g.,button) that causes the application to provide additional informationabout the location.

When a user selects the UI control button, the application transitionsfrom state 6205 to state 6255 to display a staging area for the selectedlocation. In some embodiments, this staging area displays a mediapresentation of the selected location (e.g., a 3D video presentation, aflyover view of the selected location, a series of images captured forthe location, etc.), as well as various information for the selectedlocation (contact information, reviews, etc.). The application stays inthe state 6255 as the user performs various operations to navigate thestaging area and view information within the staging area. When a userselects a UI control to transfer back to the map view, the applicationtransitions to state 6205.

From the map browsing view, the user can also easily access the searchfunction of the application. When a particular UI control (e.g., asearch bar) is selected, the application transitions to a search entrysuggestion state 6260. At the search entry state, some embodimentsdisplay a touchscreen keyboard with which the user can enter a searchterm. The search term may be a business name, an address, a type oflocation (e.g., coffee shops), etc. While the user enters characters,the application remains in state 6260 and provides suggestions based onrecent searches, the letters already entered, etc. Some embodiments mayuse prefix-based suggestions (e.g., suggestions starting with thecharacters already entered) as well as other suggestions (e.g., makingspelling corrections to add characters at the beginning of thealready-entered string, transpose characters, etc.). In someembodiments, the selections may also include recently entered routes inaddition to locations. If the user selects a cancellation UI control atthis stage, the application transfers back to state 6205 withoutperforming a search.

When the user selects a search term (either a suggested term or a termthat is entered completely by the user), the application transitions tostate 6265 to display the search results over the map view, thentransitions to state 6205 with the search results displayed. Someembodiments display the search results as selectable items (e.g., pins)on the map; selection of one of the items causes a transition to state6250 to display the banner for the selected item. In addition, theapplication of some embodiments automatically selects one of the searchresults (e.g., a “best” result) and displays this banner as part of thestate 6265.

As the application is a tightly integrated mapping, search, routing, andnavigation application, the user can easily access the routing functionfrom the map browsing state. When a particular UI control (e.g., a routeentry button) is selected, the application transitions to the routeentry state 6270. At the route entry state, some embodiments display atouchscreen keyboard with which the user can enter locations (e.g.,addresses, place names, place types, etc.) into both “to” and “from”fields in order to request a route. While the user enters characters,the application remains in state 6270 and provides suggestions based onrecent routes, recent searches, an autocomplete similar to thatdescribed for the search entry, etc. If the user selects a cancellationUI control at this stage, the application transfers back to state 6205without retrieving a route.

When the user selects a route (e.g., by entering a “to” location and a“from” location), the application transitions to the route displayingstate 6275. At this state, the application displays one or more routesfrom a first selected location to a second selected location over themap view (e.g., by overlaying route lines on the map view). Someembodiments automatically select a first one of the routes. The user canselect any of the other routes (e.g., by tapping over the unselectedroute), with the application remaining in state 6275 (but modifying thedisplay of the route lines to indicate the selection of the otherroute). In addition, when in state 6275, the application of someembodiments displays different UI controls related to routing andnavigation, including a direction list control, a navigation startcontrol, and others.

Also, various gestural interactions over the map on which the routes aredisplayed may cause the application to perform different modificationsto the map view (e.g., panning, rotating, zooming, modifying the mapperspective, etc.). When the integrated application receives gesturalinteraction over the map display while in the route display state 6275,the application transitions to state 6210 to perform gestural inputrecognition, with all of the gestural map modification operations (e.g.,corollaries to states 6215-6245) available. That is, the applicationtranslates the gestural input into panning, rotation, zoom, and/orperspective change operations similar to those described above forstates 6215-6245, with similar inertia and rebound features for thevirtual camera movement. Whereas the operations 6215-6245 return to themap browsing state 6205, the corollary operations accessed from theroute display state 6275 return to the route display state 6275.

In some embodiments, the route display state 6275 is accessible fromother states as well. For instance, if a user selects the quick-route UIcontrol on a banner while in state 6205, the application retrieves oneor more routes from the current location of the device to the locationwith which the banner is associated. In addition, some embodimentsdisplay previously requested routes among the search suggestions atstate 6260. When the user selects one of these suggested routes, theapplication transitions directly from state 6260 to state 6275 todisplay one or more routes over the map.

From the route display state 6275, the application can transition intovarious different modes depending on different controls selected by theuser. When the user selects a UI control to clear the routes, theapplication transitions back to state 6205 to display the map withoutany routes. In addition, the integrated application may enter one ormore navigation modalities from the route displaying state 6275.

When the selected route displayed at state 6275 starts at the currentlocation of the device and the user selects a navigation startingcontrol, the application transitions to the navigation state 6280. Insome embodiments, the application displays a cinematic transition fromthe map view into a more immersive 3D view for navigation. Within thenavigation state 6280 of some embodiments, a virtual camera follows thelocation of the user along the selected route in order to present theupcoming portions of the route. When either the route is completed (thedevice reaches the destination location) or the user selects a controlto end navigation, the application transitions to state 6205 to presentthe map browsing view 6205.

In some embodiments, various gestural interactions over the map on whichthe routes are displayed may cause the application to perform differentmodifications to the map view (e.g., panning, rotating, zooming,modifying the map perspective, etc.) while in the navigation mode 6280.In some embodiments, only some of the described map modificationoperations are available in the navigation mode. For instance, someembodiments allow the user to zoom in or out, but do not allow any othermodifications to the map. Thus, when the user provides gestural input,the gestural input recognition state 6210 filters out types of gesturalinput not associated with the zoom operation (and subsequently theapplication returns to state 6280). When the type of gestural inputassociated with the zoom operation is received, the gestural inputrecognition state recognizes this input and the application transitionsto a state similar to state 6225, for changing the zoom level of the map(with the inertia calculation, in some embodiments).

Other embodiments may enable different map modification operations. Forinstance, in some embodiments all of the gestural map modificationoperations (e.g., corollaries to states 6215-6245) are available whilein the navigation mode. Some embodiments allow a subset of the gesturalmap modification operations, such as zooming and a limited panningoperation. The panning operation of some embodiments, upon receiving thetype of gestural input associated with panning, moves the virtual camera(while in the navigation mode) to the side, then returns the virtualcamera back to pointing along the route. Whereas the operations6215-6245 return to the map browsing state 6205, the corollaryoperations accessed from the navigation state 6280 return to thenavigation state 6280.

When the selected route displayed at state 6275 starts at a locationother than the current location of the device (or the route is a walkingroute) and the user selects a navigation starting control, theapplication transitions to the stepping mode, or route inspection modeat state 6285. In some embodiments, the application displays themaneuvers performed along the route one at a time (e.g., as navigationsigns). By providing gestural input (e.g., swipe gestures) to themaneuvers, the user can view the different maneuvers while in the routeinspection mode. The maneuvers are overlaid on a map and at least aportion of the route is displayed in the map.

As in the route display mode, various gestural interactions over the mapmay cause the application to perform different modifications to the mapview (e.g., panning, rotating, zooming, modifying the map perspective,etc.). When the integrated application receives gestural interactionover the map display while in the stepping mode 6285, the applicationtransitions to state 6210 to perform gestural input recognition, withall of the gestural map modification operations (e.g., corollaries tostates 6215-6245) available. That is, the application translates thegestural input into panning, rotation, zoom, and/or perspective changeoperations similar to those described above for states 6215-6245, withsimilar inertia and rebound features for the virtual camera movement.Whereas the operations 6215-6245 return to the map browsing state 6205,the corollary operations accessed from the stepping mode 6285 return tothe stepping mode 6285.

Furthermore, in some embodiments the gestural input recognitionrecognizes at least one type of gestural input over the displayedmaneuvers in order to switch between the maneuvers. When a particulartype of gestural input (e.g., a swipe gesture) is received over thedisplayed maneuver (as opposed to over the map view), the applicationtransitions to a state (not shown) for changing the displayed maneuver,then returns to state 6285.

When the integrated application receives gestural interaction over themap displayed while in the stepping state 6285, the applicationtransitions to state 6210 to perform gestural input recognition, withall of the gestural map modification operations (e.g., corollaries tostates 6215-6245) available. When the modification operations are done,the application returns to state 6285. When the user selects a controlto end stepping through the maneuvers, the application transitions tostate 6205 to present the map browsing view.

In addition, in some embodiments the application can transition from thestepping mode 6285 to an auto-stepping state 6290. When the user selectsa location tracking control while the application is in state 6285, theapplication transitions to an automatic stepping mode 6290, which is adifferent navigation modality. When in the automatic stepping mode ofsome embodiments, the integrated mapping, search, and navigationapplication displays the maneuver to which the device's location isclosest (e.g., as measured by a juncture at which the maneuver isperformed). When the device moves (e.g., along the route) to a locationcloser to a different maneuver, the auto-stepping mode automaticallydisplays the different maneuver. When the user deselects the locationtracking control, the application transitions back to the stepping mode6285. When the user selects a control to end navigation while in theauto-stepping state 6290, the application transitions to state 6205 topresent the map browsing view.

As in the stepping mode 6285, various gestural interactions over the mapmay cause the application to perform different modifications to the mapview (e.g., panning, rotating, zooming, modifying the map perspective,etc.). When the integrated application receives gestural interactionover the map display while in the auto-stepping mode 6290, theapplication transitions to state 6210 to perform gestural inputrecognition, with all of the gestural map modification operations (e.g.,corollaries to states 6215-6245) available. That is, the applicationtranslates the gestural input into panning, rotation, zoom, and/orperspective change operations similar to those described above forstates 6215-6245, with similar inertia and rebound features for thevirtual camera movement. Whereas the operations 6215-6245 return to themap browsing state 6205, the corollary operations accessed from theauto-stepping mode 6290 return to the auto-stepping mode 6290. Inaddition, some embodiments automatically turn the location trackingcontrol off when the user pans the map a particular distance, in whichcase the application returns to the stepping mode state 6285 rather thanauto-stepping state 6290.

VI. Reporting a Problem

Some embodiments provide a problem-reporting feature that enables usersto select from a list of types of problems with an application and thensubmit an indication of the problem. In some embodiments, theapplication is a mapping and routing application and the user can reporta problem either relating to a particular place (e.g., a business)displayed on a map or with another aspect of the map. For instance,after selecting a place about which to view information, the user canselect a “report a problem” UI feature and then choose from a list ofpossible problems. Such a list of selectable problems may include thatthe information about the place is incorrect, for instance, by showingan incorrect phone number or address, or by misspelling the name of theestablishment, etc., or that a mark used to designate the place is at anincorrect location on the map, or that the place does not exist. In someembodiments, each of the options brings a user to a new GUI that allowsthe user to input additional information about the problem. Forinstance, users can edit the information for a place and submit thisinformation for verification, indicate on the map a correct location fora place, or indicate specific reasons that a place does not exist. Insome embodiments, if the user indicates that the user is the owner of aplace and this information can be verified, then the problem report andcorrections are given additional weight.

In addition, some embodiments provide the problem-reporting feature forthe general mapping feature. In some embodiments, the user can accessvarious operations in a menu (e.g., by accessing a button that visuallypeels back the map to reveal selectable options underneath), and aselectable problem reporting item is among these operations. The type ofproblems that the user can report, in some embodiments, include thatsearch results are incorrect, that a place mark is at an incorrectlocation, that a label (e.g., for a street, park, etc.) is incorrect,that a place is missing, or that a route provided by the mappingapplication is incorrect. Some or all of these options provide userswith the ability to provide more information (e.g., comments onincorrect search results, comments on a particular step in turn-by-turndirections, etc.).

A. Reporting a Problem from a Stage

FIG. 63 conceptually illustrates in three stages 6305-6315 the mappingapplication of some embodiments that allows the user to report a problemthrough a “stage,” or the user interface for a POI. Specifically, thisfigure illustrates the problem-reporting feature that is accessiblethrough the stage for a particular location or POI.

The first stage 6305 illustrates the GUI 3800 for a POI. The info tab isselected and some general information is displayed in the informationdisplay area 3845. The first stage 6305 also illustrates the userscrolling the GUI 3800 up. The second stage 6310 illustrates that themapping application shows a set of UI items in the information displayarea 3845 that were not visible in the previous stage 6305 as the userhas scrolled the GUI 3800 up. As shown, the set of UI items includes areport problem control 6340 for reporting a problem. The second stageillustrates the selection of the report problem control 6340.

The third stage 6315 shows that the mapping application has opened up aGUI 6345, which is a problem-reporting page that includes a set of UIitems for reporting different types of problems for the POI. As shown,the problem reporting GUI 6345 includes a top bar 6350 and the set of UIitems 6370-6385. As shown, each of the UI items 6370-6385 showsinformational text that describes the type of problem for which the itemis displayed. When a particular one of the UI items 6370-6385 isselected, the mapping application provides a page that is specificallytailored to the type of problem for the selected UI item as is describedfurther below by reference to FIGS. 64-71.

The top bar 6350 includes items 6355 and 6360. The item 6355 is forcanceling reporting a problem and going back to the stage for the POI.The item 6360 is for going to a next page from the current page.

The item 6375, of which the text reads, “Information is incorrect,” isfor reporting that some information about the POI is not correct. A usermay select the item 6375 in order to report incorrect informationassociated with the POI or update the incorrect information. Uponreceiving a user's selection of the item 6375, the mapping applicationin some embodiments provides an editable contact card that the user mayuse to input the correct information for the particular POI. The contactcard for a POI is described further below.

The item 6380, of which the text reads “Pin is at incorrect location,”is for reporting that the pin (not shown) for the POI displayed on themap is at an incorrect location. The user may then select the item 6380to report that the user believes the pin for the POI is placed at anincorrect location on the map. The application also allows the user toprovide the correct pin location for the POI on the map as is describedfurther below.

The item 6385, of which the text reads “Place does not exist,” is forreporting that a particular pin location for the POI displayed on themap does not exist. A user may select the item 6385 when the mapdisplays a particular search result that may no longer be on the map fora variety of reasons (e.g., location has closed, moved locations,incorrect information, etc.). When a user selects the item 6385, themapping application of some embodiments presents a new page with severaldifferent options from which a user can choose. This new page isdescribed further below.

The item 6370, of which the text reads, “My problem is not listed,” isfor reporting that the problem that the user wishes to report is notlisted. The mapping application of some embodiments provides another GUIpage (not shown) that allows the user to describe the type and/or thedetails of the problem related to the POI that the user sees.

In some embodiments, the mapping application presents this set of UIitems dynamically based on how the user has reached the “stage” for thePOI. That is, the number of such UI items for different purposes isdependent on the state of the mapping application prior to opening the“stage” for this POI. For instance, when the user has reached the“stage” after placing a new pin on the map, the mapping application ofsome embodiments does not display item 6380 that indicates the pin is atan incorrect location in the map because it is assumed that a new pinwas dropped at the location at which the user meant to drop the pin.Similarly, the mapping application can display more UI items for othertypes of problems than the items 6370-6385.

FIG. 64 illustrates in four different stages 6405-6420 an example ofreporting a problem by selecting the item 6375 for reporting that thePOI's information is incorrect. The first stage 6405 illustrates theproblem reporting page, the GUI 6345, after the user has selected thereport problem control 6340 (not shown in FIG. 64). The first stage 6405also illustrates the selection of the item 6375. In some embodiments,the mapping application displays a visual indication (e.g., a checkmark) in the item 6375 to show that the item is currently selected.

The second stage 6410 illustrates that the mapping application hasopened up an editable contact card 6490 after the user selects the item6360 to proceed to the next page. The mapping application of someembodiments permits the user to edit any of the current information ofthe POI displayed in the contact cards that the user believes isincorrect. The user may provide edits to the current labels to correctany of the information related to the POI, including name, address,telephone number, hours of operation, web site URL, and various otherinformation provided by the contact card.

As shown, the editable contact card 6490 includes a set of UI items fordisplaying and editing different types of information of the POI. Forinstance, the item 6465 is for displaying and editing the name of thePOI. The item 6470 is for displaying and editing the address of the POI.The item 6475 is for displaying and editing the phone number of the POI.In some embodiments, a UI item 6425 (e.g., a checkbox) is placed by eachof the item 6465-6475. The UI item 6425 is described further below.

The item 6485 is for indicating that the user who is editing theinformation of the POI is the owner of the POI. For example, when thePOI is a restaurant, the owner of this restaurant would want to correctinformation about the restaurant. In some embodiments, the item 6435 isassociated with a radio button. The item 6435 in some embodiments is atoggle selection as shown, which can be directly manipulated orindirectly manipulated by selecting the item 6485.

The item 6430 is for adding a new UI item for displaying and editing atype of information that the currently displayed UI items (e.g., theitems 6465-6475) do not cover. When the item 6430 is selected, the newUI item will appear beneath an existing UI item (e.g., item 6485) andthe user will be able to specify the type of information (e.g., a “URL”)and the content (e.g., the URL of the POI). The second stage 6410 alsoillustrates the selection of the item 6475 for editing the phone numberof the POI.

The third stage 6415 displays the contact card 6490 after the user hasedited the phone number. As shown, the mapping application of someembodiments places the check mark on the item 6425 by the item 6475.When the user edits information, the mapping application provides avisual indication to show the information that has been edited. Forinstance, the mapping application of some embodiments displays theedited information in a different color. For example, the edited phonenumber displayed in the item 6475 is in a red font in contrast to theunedited phone number illustrated in the previous stage 6410 that is ina black font. The mapping application of some embodiments may displaythe edits using edit marks (e.g., strikethrough, etc.).

The fourth stage 6420 illustrates the selection of an item 6495, whichis for sending the problem report to the remote map server. In someembodiments, the mapping application of some embodiments not only sendsthe content of the problem (i.e., corrected information) but also sendsthe state of the mapping application and the device (e.g., languagesetting, the current location, etc.). The use of the state of themapping application and the device is described further below.

FIG. 66 illustrates in four different stages 6605-6620 another exampleof reporting a problem by selecting the item 6375 for reporting that thePOI's information is incorrect. The user in this example believes thatsome information about the POI is incorrect but does not know thecorrect information. The mapping application of some embodiments allowsthe user to report the problem even if the user does not know thecorrect information.

The first stage 6605 illustrates the problem reporting page 6345, afterthe user has selected the report problem control 6340 (not shown in FIG.66). The first stage 6605 also illustrates the selection of the item6375. The second stage 6610 illustrates that the mapping application hasopened up the contact card 6490 after the user selects the item 6360 toproceed to the next page.

The third stage 6615 illustrates the selection of the item 6425 placedby the item 6465 for displaying and editing the name of the POI. Asmentioned above, the user in this example recognizes that the name ofthe POI does not sound right but the user does not know what the correctname is. The user, therefore, does not edit the name but selects theitem 6425 to place a check mark on the item 6425.

In some embodiments, the mapping application may provide a visualindication other than a check mark. For instance, the mappingapplication may highlight or use different color for the item 6425.

The fourth stage illustrates the selection of the item 6495, which isfor sending the problem report to the remote map server. When the mapserver receives this report and similar reports regarding the name ofthe POI, the map server of some embodiments recognizes that the name ofthe POI is wrong.

FIG. 65 illustrates in three different stages 6505-6515 an example ofreporting a problem by allowing the user to select a UI item withouthaving the user to make edits to provide the correct information. Insome embodiments, the mapping application provides a list of choices tochoose from so that the user can select the correct information ratherthan providing the correct information. In other words, the mappingapplication of some such embodiments provides a different modal page inwhich the user does not have to make edits.

The first stage 6505 shows the problem reporting page after the user hasselected the report problem control 6340 (not shown in FIG. 65). Thefirst stage 6505 also illustrates the selection of a UI item 6550 forreporting that the place is in an incorrect category.

The second stage 6510 illustrates that the mapping application hasopened up a UI page that lists categories for the user to choose from.By providing this UI page, the mapping application does not require theuser to edit any information about the place. This stage also shows thatthe user's selection of a UI item 6555 for categorizing the place as arestaurant. The third stage 6515 shows the user's selection of the item6495 for sending the problem report.

FIG. 67 illustrates in six different stages 6705-6730 an example ofreporting a problem by selecting the item 6380 for reporting that a pinfor the POI is at an incorrect location.

The first stage 6705 illustrates the problem reporting page 6345, afterthe user has selected the report problem control 6340 (not shown in FIG.67). The first stage 6705 also illustrates the selection of the item6380.

The second stage 6710 illustrates a map view that the mappingapplication displays in some embodiments after item 6360 is selectedwhen the item 6380 for reporting incorrect location for the pin for thePOI is selected. The second stage 6710 also illustrates that the top bar6350 includes the item 6495 for sending a problem report in place of theitem 6360 for going to a next page.

The second stage 6710 also illustrates an instruction bar 6735 whichdisplays instructions for the user to follow. In some embodiments, theinstructions displayed in the instruction bar 6735 are tailored to thestate of the mapping application prior to showing this map view. Forinstance, the instruction bar 6735 displays “Drag the pin to the correctlocation” when the item 6380 for reporting that the pin is at anincorrect location is selected prior to showing the map view in thestage 6710.

The second stage 6710 also illustrates a standard view control 6740 anda hybrid view control 6745. The standard view control 6740 is fordisplaying the map in the standard view (e.g., plain 2D view of themap). The hybrid view control 6745 is for displaying the map in a hybridmode (e.g., plain 2D view plus 3D view of the map). The standard andhybrid view controls 6740 and 6745 are depicted in this figure as ifthese items were overlaying the map for simplicity of description.However, in some embodiments, these two view controls are displayed inthe page underneath the map view that is only revealed when the map viewis lifted by the page curl 155, as is described further below byreference to FIG. 72. The second stage 6710 illustrates that a pin 6750for the POI is placed at a location in the map.

The third stage 6715 illustrates that the user zooms in (e.g., bytwo-finger spread gesture) to see an area of the map in greater detail.As shown, the streets and the buildings appear bigger than they did inthe previous stage 6710. The pin is placed at the left side of abuilding.

The fourth stage 6720 illustrates the selection of the pin 6750. Themapping application of some embodiments allows the user to select a pinby pressing the pin for a certain amount of time. The fifth stage 6725illustrates that the user has dragged the pin to the right in order toplace the pin closer to the other side of the building. In someembodiments, when the user drags to a side of the map currentlydisplayed, the mapping application pans the map so that the pin can beplaced at a map location in an area of the map that was not previouslyvisible.

The sixth stage 6730 illustrates the selection of the item 6495 forsending the problem report to the remote map server. The report to theremote map server in this example includes the new location of the pin,among other information that is included in the report.

FIG. 68 illustrates in six different stages 6805-6830 another example ofreporting a problem by selecting the item 6380 for reporting that a pinfor the POI is at an incorrect location. Specifically, this figuresillustrates moving a pin in the map that is displayed in a hybrid mode.

The first stage 6805 illustrates the problem reporting page 6345, afterthe user has selected the report problem control 6340 (not shown in FIG.68). The first stage 6805 also illustrates the selection of the item6380.

The second stage 6810 illustrates a map view that the mappingapplication displays in some embodiments after item 6360 is selected(i.e., to proceed to the next page) after the item 6380 for reporting anincorrect location for the pin for the POI is selected. The second stagealso illustrates the selection of the hybrid view control 6745 fordisplaying the map in the hybrid mode. The third stage 6815 illustratesthat the mapping application is displaying the map in the hybrid mode.As shown, the buildings have become three-dimensional (e.g., withdifferent heights).

The fourth stage 6820 illustrates the selection of the pin 6750. Thefifth stage 6825 illustrates that the user has dragged the pin to theright-side rooftop of the building. In some embodiments, the mappingapplication shows the whole pin (as opposed to a partial pin without thesharp end) while the pin is being dragged. The mapping application alsoshows the shadow of the pin while the pin is being dragged. When theuser drops the pin (e.g., by releasing), the mapping application of someembodiments shows an animation of the pin penetrating into the location.The sixth stage 6830 illustrates the selection of the item 6495 forsending the problem report to the remote map server. The report to theremote map server in this example includes the new location of the pinin three-dimensional form (e.g., two-dimensional coordinate of the newlocation and the altitude of the new location) among other informationthat is included in the report.

FIG. 69 illustrates in six different stages 6905-6930 yet anotherexample of reporting a problem by selecting the item 6380 for reportingthat a pin for the POI is at an incorrect location. Specifically, thisfigure illustrates using a target locator 6935 to specify the correctlocation of the pin.

The first stage 6905 illustrates the problem reporting page 6345, afterthe user has selected the report problem control 6340 (not shown in FIG.69). The first stage 6905 also illustrates the selection of the item6380. The second stage 6910 illustrates a map view that the mappingapplication of some embodiments displays in some embodiments after item6360 is selected when the item 6380 for reporting incorrect location forthe pin for the POI is selected.

The second stage 6910 also illustrates the target locator 6935. In someembodiments, the target locator 6935 includes a geometric shape (e.g., acircle) and a target mark (e.g., depicted as “X”). The geometric shapeof the target locator in some embodiments is for selectively zooming inthe area of the map that falls within the geometric shape. The targetmark is for accurately specifying the new location of the pin. In someembodiments, the target mark is stationary with respect to the screen ofthe device on which the mapping application is running. That is, thetarget mark does not move. In order to place the target mark of thetarget locator 6935, the mapping application allows the user to move themap (i.e., pan the map). The target locator 6935 is also functional whenthe map is in the hybrid mode.

The third stage 6915 illustrates that the user zooms in (e.g., bytwo-finger spread gesture or rotating the geometric shape of the targetmark) to see an area of the map in greater detail. As mentioned above,only the area that falls in the geometric shape is magnified in someembodiments. In other words, the geometric shape of the target locatoris serving as a magnifying glass to zoom in a particular area of thedisplayed map. In other embodiments, the area outside the geometricshape is zoomed in as shown. The streets and the buildings appear biggerthan they did in the previous stage 6910. The pin is placed at the leftside of a building.

The fourth stage 6920 illustrates that the user has moved the map to theleft (i.e., panned the map to show the portion of the map that is on theright side of the portion of the map displayed in the previous stage6915) by a two-finger gesture to drag the map. As shown, the buildingshave moved to the left side of the screen.

The fifth stage 6925 illustrates that the user specifies the newlocation of the pin by selecting the target locator 6935. The mappingapplication of some embodiments moves the pin to the location specifiedby the target mark of the locator 6935 as shown. The sixth stage 6930illustrates the selection of the item 6495 for sending the problemreport to the remote map server. The report to the remote map server inthis example includes the new location of the pin, among otherinformation that is included in the report.

FIG. 70 illustrates in three different stages 7005-7015 an example ofreporting a problem by selecting the item 6385 for reporting that thePOI does not exist at the location specified by the pin (not shown) inthe map. An example of non-existent POI is a restaurant that was closedor moved to another location prior to the user's searching for therestaurant using the mapping application of some embodiments.

The first stage 7005 illustrates the problem reporting page 6345, afterthe user has selected the report problem control 6340 (not shown in FIG.70). The first stage 7005 also illustrates the selection of the item6385.

The second stage 7010 illustrates that the mapping application hasopened up a page (a GUI 7000) that includes a set of UI items forreporting different problems related to the POI that the user believesdoes not exist at the location any more. The mapping application opensup this page in response to the selection of the item 6360 (i.e.,“Next”) after the item 6385 for reporting the POI not existing at thelocation is selected. As shown, the GUI 7000 includes a set of UI itemsthat includes UI items 7020-7035. The item 7020 is for reporting thatthe POI at the location is closed. The item 7025 is for reporting thatthe pin is at an incorrect location. When the item 7025 is selected, themapping application displays a sequence of pages that are shown when theitem 6380 for reporting an incorrect location of the pin is selected.

The item 7030 is for reporting other reasons for the POI not existing atthe current location of the pin (not shown). The item 7035 is atext-editing field in some embodiments for the user to provide anycomments. The third stage 7015 illustrates the selection of the item6495, which is for sending the problem report to the remote map server.

FIG. 71 illustrates in four different stages 7105-7120 an example ofreporting a problem by selecting the item 6370 for reporting a type ofproblem for which the problem reporting page does not have a matching UIitem that describes the problem the user sees. The mapping applicationof some embodiments allows the user to define a problem.

The first stage 7105 illustrates the problem reporting page 6345, afterthe user has selected the report problem control 6340 (not shown in FIG.71). The first stage 7105 also illustrates the selection of the item6370.

The second stage 7110 illustrates that the mapping application hasopened up a page (a GUI 7100) that includes a set of UI items forreporting the user-defined problem. In this example, the GUI 7100includes a UI item 7125, which is a text-editing field for the user todefine and describe the problem the user believes exists with themapping application. For instance, the user may want to report that theimage shown in the media display area 3835 of the “stage” for the POI isnot an image of the POI. The second stage 7110 also illustrates theselection of the item 7125.

The third stage 7115 illustrates that the user has described the problemthe user believes exists in the mapping application. The fourth stage7120 illustrates the selection of the item 6495, which is for sendingthe problem report to the remote map server.

B. Reporting a Problem from a Map View

FIG. 72 conceptually illustrates in three stages 7205-7215 the mappingapplication of some embodiments that allows the user to report a problemfrom a map view. This figure illustrates a different context (e.g., themap view) for which the mapping application allows a user to submitproblem reports for a variety of different problems the user mayencounter.

The first stage 7205 illustrates the mapping application displaying themap view and several pins for the POIs found based on a particularsearch query. In this example, the mapping application shows the resultsof running the search query that specify fast food places, including thelocations of two particular restaurants, as two pins 7290 and 7295. Thefirst stage 7205 also shows that the pin 7290 for “Corner Restaurant 1”is selected (by the user or by the mapping application by default) andtherefore a banner is displayed for the pin 7290. The first stage 7205also illustrates the user selecting the page curl control 155.

The second stage 7210 illustrates that the map view has been peeled offin response to the selection of the page curl control 155 and showsanother view to reveal several controls including the report problemcontrol 6340, the standard view control 6740, and the hybrid viewcontrol 6745. The second stage 7210 also shows the user selecting thereport problem control 6340.

The third stage 7215 shows that the mapping application has opened up aGUI 7235, which is a problem-reporting page that includes a set of UIitems for reporting different types of problems for the map view thathas been just peeled off. As shown, the problem reporting GUI 7235includes a top bar 7240 and a set of UI items 7245-7270.

As shown, each of the UI items 7245-7270 in GUI 7235 shows informationaltext that describes the type of problem for which the item isassociated. The list of UI items 7245-7270 includes: 1) “Search resultsare incorrect,” 2) “Pin is in incorrect location,” 3) “Street or otherlabel is incorrect,” 4) “Location is missing,” 5) “Problem withdirections,” and 6) “My problem is not listed.”

The list of items illustrated in stage 7215 of FIG. 72 includes the item7250, of which the text reads, “Search results are incorrect,” which isfor providing feedback and/or comments regarding the search results fora particular search query. For instance, a user may receive certainincorrect search results that should not be provided for theirparticular query. In this situation, the user may select the item 7250and then provide comments with information regarding the incorrectsearch results.

The item 7255, of which the text reads “Pin is at incorrect location,”is similar to item 6380 described above by reference to FIG. 67. A usermay notice that a POI is displayed at an incorrect location on the mapand provide feedback regarding the correct location.

The item 7260, of which the text reads “Street or other label isincorrect,” permits a user to indicate that a particular street name orany other label (e.g., business name, landmark, city name, etc.) on themap is incorrect and to provide the correct label. In some embodiments,once the user selects this option, the user is presented with aneditable map view that permits the user to select (e.g. by tapping theparticular location) the incorrect street name or other labelinformation on the map and to provide correct information regarding theselected item.

The item 7265, of which the text reads, “Location is missing,” is forreporting that a pin for a POI that the user believes should appear inthe map view does not appear. The application permits a user to correctthis information through several different mechanisms, includingdropping a pin on a location to indicate the location of the missing POIor by submitting a contact card with various information (e.g., streetaddress, company name, etc.).

The item 7270, of which the text reads “Problem with directions,” is forproviding feedback and/or problems with a particular routing directionthat the user received through the various map routing features providedby the application.

The item 7245, of which the text reads, “My problem is not listed,”which may be used for reporting that the problem that the user wishes toreport is not listed. The mapping application of some embodimentsprovides another GUI page (not shown) that allows the user to describethe type and/or the details of the problem related to the map view thatthe user sees.

The list of UI items 7245-7270 displayed in FIG. 72 is different thanthe list of UI items 6370-6385 provided in FIG. 63. When a user selectsthe problem reporting feature from the map view context (as opposed tothe POI stage view described above), the list of menu items (or UIitems) are adapted to deal with a broader range of issues applicable tothe map being displayed, but may also include certain POI (or pinspecific) issues. For instance, the report on a problem from the mapview context and the report on a problem from a POI stage view contextboth provide in the list of menu items the following choices: (1) “Pinis at incorrect location” 7255 and (2) “My problem isn't listed” 7245.However, when using the problem reporting feature in the map viewcontext, the list of menu items may include other, different items,including (1)“Search results are incorrect” 7250, (2) “Street or otherlabel is incorrect” 7260, (3) “Location is missing” 7265, and (4)“Problem with directions” 7270, that are applicable to a broader rangeof issues that relate to the map view, including problems related tosearch results displayed on the map (e.g. pins on the map), problemsrelated to information displayed on the map (e.g. incorrect street namesand labels), and other problems that may be related to topics that applyto more than just a single POI stage or pin on the map.

Furthermore, depending on the user's particular map view settings, thelist of menu items provided in the UI display 7235 may be dynamicallyadapted to display only menu items that may be applicable for theparticular user's viewing settings. For instance, for a user that isviewing traffic information in their particular map view setting, thelist of menu items in the display area 7235 may dynamically change toinclude a “Report problem with traffic feature” that would otherwise notbe listed had the user not been receiving the traffic information intheir particular map view at the time they initiated the report aproblem feature. The user would use the traffic feature to reportproblems when a user notices that the traffic information is erroneousfor a particular location (e.g., the map indicates traffic at a certainlocation when no such traffic exists). Note that the user is notsubmitting a traffic report (e.g., is not providing traffic information,but rather indicating that the traffic feature is not functioningcorrectly.) By dynamically adapting the particular menu items that areprovided to the user for various problem reporting situations, the userinterface is optimized to only display the relevant menu options for theuser's particular situation and remove menu items that are notapplicable to the given map view context.

In some embodiments, the mapping application may offer the problemreporting mechanism during the navigation mode. For instance, themapping application may provide a report problem control on top ofnavigation view to allow for reporting problem. In some embodiments, thereporting problem feature may be suppressed as the user is driving anautomobile.

FIG. 73 illustrates in three stages 7305-7315 the selection of item7250, “Search results are incorrect” and the mapping application'sreaction. In some embodiments, the item 7250 is displayed in the list ofUI items only if search results actually exist for the user (e.g., theuser has executed a previous search).

The first stage 7305 illustrates the user selecting item 7250. Thesecond stage 7310 illustrates the mapping application displaying GUI7320 with a list of previous searches 7325 executed by the user usingthe mapping application. In particular, the user's list of previoussearches includes “Fast food”, “Taxi”, “Pizza”, “Flowers” and “NewYork.” In some embodiments, the mapping application lists a certainnumber (e.g., five) of the user's most recent executed searches. Thesecond stage 7310 also illustrates the user selecting “Fast food” fromthe list of previous searches.

The third stage 7315 illustrates that the mapping application has openedup a UI page 7330. This UI page may display a general comments text boxfor a user to insert any comments they may have regarding the particularprevious search they executed, including information regarding anyincorrect search results. For instance, a user may receive certainincorrect search results that should not be provided for theirparticular search query. In this situation, the user may select the item7250 and then provide comments with information regarding the incorrectsearch results.

Upon writing comments, the user may submit the comments by selecting theitem 6495 (e.g., through a tapping gesture) whereby the mappingapplication will submit the new information to the map server such thatit may be further analyzed. The mapping application will apply variousheuristics and algorithms to decide whether and how to update any of theapplication data related to information that it receives from the user.

In some embodiments, the mapping application allows the user to indicatea particular search result is incorrect by simply marking a checkboxlocated next to the particular search result. The mapping application ofsome embodiments also allows a user to add a POI for a location (e.g. abusiness) that the search query did not detect and thus did not displayon the map. The user may add the POI (e.g., by dropping a pin on themap) for a search query result that otherwise should be reflected on themap. For instance, a user may be aware of a restaurant at a particularlocation that does not appear for a search query related to thatlocation (e.g. a search for “fast food” did not detect a particularrestaurant that should be included for a particular map region). Theuser may then drop a pin on the location and/or submit a contact cardwith the relevant information for the particular location. For example,an owner will likely be interested in displaying their shop orrestaurant on the map for a set of search query terms and thus the ownermay submit a detailed contact card with information for their particularlocation that will allow the application to detect the location insubsequent searches. The information may include the name, address,business hours, URL, photos, and any other data that the user would liketo associate with the particular location.

Some embodiments also provide a user with the ability to re-rank theparticular search results that appear for a given search query. Forinstance, a user may notice that certain search results should appearhigher in the list of search results than other terms. For example, anambiguous term might return search results that may be semanticallycorrect, but are not what most users for the particular search querywould intend to obtain from the mapping application. A user may rank theparticular search results to match the particular search results withthe search query.

FIG. 74 illustrates over six stages 7405-7430 the mapping applicationupon the selection of item 7255, “Pin is in incorrect location.” Thisitem 7255 is similar to item 6380 described above by reference to FIG.67. However, when a user selects the report a problem feature from themap view context, the user may be able to modify several pins, asopposed to a single pin that is modifiable in the stage view. Each pinthat is illustrated on the map may appear as a search result for aparticular search query and thus more than one pin may be edited in thisparticular context, depending on the number of pins displayed on the mapfor the search results. Pins may also be displayed on the map when theuser is simply browsing and navigating the map view, without entering aparticular search query. In this situation, the map would simply displaypins for the various POIs located on the map.

The first stage 7405 illustrates two particular pins 7490 and 7495displayed on the map as a result of the search query “Fast Food.” Thepin 7490 corresponds to a POI for “Corner Restaurant 1” (banner notshown) and the pin 7495 corresponds to a POI for “Corner Restaurant 2.”The user is also selecting a page curl control on the lower right handcorner of the map display area. The second stage 7410 illustrates thatthe map view has been peeled off in response to the selection of thelower right corner of the map and shows another view to reveal severalcontrols, including the report problem control 6340. The second stage7410 also shows the user selecting the report problem control 6340.

The third stage 7415 shows that the mapping application has opened up aGUI 7435, which is the problem-reporting page that includes the set ofUI items for reporting different types of problems for the map view thathas been just peeled off. As shown, the problem reporting GUI 7435includes a set of UI items. The user is also selecting, through atapping gesture, UI item 7255 “Pin is at incorrect location.” Stage 7420illustrates the mapping application, after it receives a user'sselection of item 7255, displaying a map for the user to drag and dropthe incorrect pin to the correct location of the POI. In someembodiments, the mapping application does not display the curl controlwhen the map is for receiving new pin location.

As described above, the application is now in a map viewing contextspecific to adjusting a pin's location on the map, and thus theapplication provides a user interface interaction tailored to adjustinga pin's location on the map (since the application is not in a normalbrowsing mode and does not need to consider that ambiguity of the user'sinteraction with the map). Stage 7420 illustrates a user tapping the pincorresponding to Corner Restaurant 2. After tapping this pin, the pinraises to indicate that it is now movable. The user may then move thepin (e.g., drag) to the correct location on the map. Stage 7425illustrates the user moving the pin to the top left corner region of themap display area. Stage 7430 illustrates a user tapping a “Send” menuitem after moving a pin to the correct location on the map.

FIG. 75 illustrates in four different stages 7505-7520 an example ofreporting a problem by selecting the item 7260 for reporting that aparticular piece of information on the map is incorrect.

The first stage 7505 illustrates the user selecting the item 7260. Inthe second stage 7510, the mapping application is displaying a map viewwith various labels and different street names. In particular, the mapdisplays several streets, including “Thirst Street,” “Main Street”, and“Second Street.” In some embodiments, the user indicates an incorrectstreet name or any other label displayed on the map by simply tappingthe incorrect label (e.g., street name, etc.) on the map. In someembodiments, the particular map labels are displayed in different colorsto indicate that they are able to receive a user's tapping selection.For instance, the labels may be displayed in red.

The second stage 7510 illustrates the user selecting “Thirst Street” bytapping the particular location of the label on the map. Stage 7515illustrates, after receiving selection of the incorrect label, themapping application displaying a GUI 7530 for submitting suggestedcorrections for the particular selected label. The GUI 7530 displays aUI item 7535 for displaying and editing the street name for the selectedstreet. The UI item 7535 displays “Thirst Street”, which the user hasindicated to be incorrect. The third stage 7515 also illustrates theselection of the UI Item 7535.

The fourth stage 7520 illustrates that the user has corrected the nameof the street. In some embodiments, the mapping application of someembodiments provides a visual indication to show the information thathas been edited. For instance, the mapping application of someembodiments displays the edited information in a different color (e.g.,red). The suggested corrections to the name of the street will be sentto the map server when the UI item 6495 is selected.

As is described further below, the problem report including thesuggested corrections is sent to a triage server in some embodiments. Insome embodiments, the mapping application of some embodiments not onlysends the content of the problem (i.e., corrected information) but alsosends the state of the mapping application and the device (e.g.,language setting, the current location, etc.). The triage server thenapplies various heuristics and algorithms to determine whether and howto change the particular information as is described further below.

FIG. 76 illustrates in six different stages 7605-7630 the selection ofthe UI item 7265, “Location is missing.” The item 7265 is for reportingthat a pin for a POI that the user believes should appear in the mapview does not appear. The application permits a user to correct thisinformation through several mechanisms, including dropping a pin on thePOI for the missing location and/or by submitting a contact card withvarious location information (e.g., street address, company name, etc.).Some embodiments permit a user to simply list a particular locationregardless of actually executing a search query. For instance, a usermay be browsing or navigating the map and see that a particular locationis not displayed in the map, and select this option to add the locationto the map.

The first stage 7605 of FIG. 76 illustrates the user selecting item7265, “Location is missing.” The second stage 7610 illustrates themapping application displaying the map view with several pins fordifferent POIs. Two pins are displayed on the map, one pin for a POIcorresponding to “Corner Restaurant 1” and another pin for a POIcorresponding to “Corner Restaurant 2.”

The third stage 7615 illustrates the user tapping a particular locationon the map in order to drop a pin for the missing location that the userbelieves should appear on the map for the particular search query. Stage7620 illustrates the map display area now includes a third pin that hasbeen dropped on the user's previously tapped location. The pin currentlydisplays an empty banner, since the application does not have any datafor that particular location.

Stage 7625 illustrates the user tapping the arrow on the banner in orderto edit the information in the banner. Stage 7630 illustrates that themapping application provides a contact card that the user may use tosubmit various information for the POI. As shown, the contact cardincludes various contact labels, including text fields to input acompany name and address, and various other information (e.g., telephonenumber, hours of operation, website URL, etc.). Furthermore, eachcontact card includes a field for the user to indicate they are theowner of the location. The contact card may also display generalcomments text box for a user to insert any comments they may have thatcannot be provided in any of the pre-defined fields of the contact card.Upon completing the empty contact card, the user submits the card byselecting the “Send” menu item (e.g., through a tapping gesture) wherebythe application submits the new information to the map server such thatit may be further analyzed.

As described above, some embodiments place more value on informationreceived from an individual that indicates the individual is the ownerof the particular location since this individual has an interest inmaking sure the information provided to the application is accurate. Theapplication provides various verification mechanisms (e.g., email) toverify the identity of these individuals before changing any of theinformation.

FIG. 77 illustrates in four stages 7705-7720 the selection of the item7270, “Problems with directions” from GUI 7735. The item 7270 is forproviding feedback and/or problems with directions received for aparticular route search.

The item 7270 may appear in the list of UI items in the GUI 7735 only ifthe user has executed at least one previous route directions search,since the list of UI items that are displayed are dynamically adjustedto reflect only the applicable types of problem for a user's particularcontext. The application provides routing directions through severaldifferent contexts. A user may obtain routing directions through thesearch field located on the map. A user may also select a directionindicator menu item upon which the application displays a user interfacethat allows a user to enter a start and end location and then obtainrouting directions between these locations. The mapping application alsoallows a user to obtain directions by selecting an icon located on abanner for each pin displayed on a map.

Regardless of how a user obtains these routing directions, the user mayexperience various problems or wish to provide comments regarding thedirections. In some embodiments, the directions that are provided may bedifferent for a car, a walk route, a bus route, a bicycle, or any othertransportation mechanisms between the supplied destinations. Theapplication allows several UI menu items that a user may select tospecify their particular transportation mechanism (e.g., a car icon, busicon, person walking icon, etc.).

The first stage 7705 of FIG. 77 illustrates the user selecting the“Problem with directions” item 7270. The next stage 7710 illustrates themapping application displaying a GUI 7720 with a list of recent routedirections that the user has requested. Stage 7710 illustrates threerecent route searches for the user, including from “Home 1243 FirstStreet” to “111 Ave. T, Los Angeles”, from “Pavilion Theaters” to “369Avenue T.” and from “Bowling Pavilion” to “111 Avenue T.” Differentembodiments may list a different number of recent route searches. Forinstance, some embodiments display the most recent five route searchesexecuted by the user. Stage 7710 illustrates the user selecting therecent route search for directions between “Bowling Pavilion” and “111Avenue T.”

After the user selects the particular routing directions for a location,the application will display a list of the detailed turn-by-turn routingdirections through various display contexts. The application may providethe list of directions corresponding to different segments along theroute, starting from the current location and ending at the destination.Each individual direction for each segment of the route may detail thetype of maneuver to make (e.g., left arrow, right arrow, straight arrow,etc.), the distance until execution of the particular maneuver (e.g.,turn left in 0.4 miles), the particular address corresponding to thesegment of the route listed (e.g., turn left onto Lion Rd.) and variousother routing directions and information.

Stage 7715 illustrates a GUI 7730 that displays a list of instructionscorresponding to the route selected in stage 7710. The list includes 3directions corresponding to different segments along the route. The listindicates that the user must first, turn left onto Lion Rd. in 0.4miles, then turn right onto 7th St. in 0.1 miles, and that thedestination will be on the left in 350 feet. Each individual directionin the list also provides a comments icon that the user may select toreport comments/problems regarding the particular item. Stage 7715illustrates the user selecting the comments icon for the last routingdirection in the list. Stage 7720 illustrates that the mappingapplication displays a general comments card where the user may submitcomments regarding the particular routing direction. As shown, the userhas entered in the comments field “Destination is on the left” tocorrect the information that the search had provided, in particular,that the direction had erroneously indicated that the destination wouldbe on the left. The user may then tap the “Send” menu item to providethis information to the application server.

The application allows a user to indicate that a problem exists with aset of routing directions either displayed in the list of routingdirection or on the map itself. The user may specify that a particularindividual list item in the list of routing directions is incorrect bymarking a check-box provided next to the particular item to indicatethat item is wrong. The user may select multiple list items ifnecessary. In the map view, the user may tap a particular highlightedsegment (e.g., in white) of the route displayed on the map to indicatethat the segment is incorrect or contains a problem. The user may alsoselect the entire route segment if the complete set of directions isincorrect.

After selecting the particular incorrect list items, or the particularroute segment on the map, the user may also provide comments regardingfurther details of the problem (e.g., the road is closed, underconstruction, road does not exist, bike path does not exist, etc.).

Some embodiments of the application will analyze the actual routes thata user navigated between two particular destinations in order to detectthe problem with the routing directions. After a user selects the“Problem with Directions” menu item, the application will display a listof the most recent routing directions that the user requested. Forinstance, some embodiments display a list of the last three routingdirections. The user may then select a particular routing direction fromthe list of recent routing directions. After the user selects therouting direction, the application displays a list of the actual routethat the user navigated for the particular route. The user may thenselect the particular route segment containing the problem.

In some embodiments, the application displays a list of the receivedserver-provided route directions, and compares this with a list for theactual route taken by the user, and notes any discrepancies between thetwo lists as indicative of a particular problem on that portion of theroute. For instance, a user may recognize that the mapping applicationsuggests turning left on a street to enter a freeway on-ramp. However,the on-ramp may have been re-located due to construction or the leftturn is prohibited there. The user may have taken a route to go straightto take a detour to get to the freeway. The application may recognizethat there might be a problem at this particular point in the routingdirections and offer to the user an opportunity to provide the commentfor this particular point in the routing directions.

FIG. 78 illustrates a process 7800 that some embodiments perform toreport a problem with directions feature of the mapping application. Theprocess 7800 in some embodiments is performed by the mappingapplication. The process 7800 starts when the mapping applicationdisplay a list of recent trips that the user has taken.

The process 7800 begins by receiving (at 7810) the user's selection of aparticular trip for which the suggested directions the user believeswere incorrect or have problems. The user may have selected thisparticular trip to report a problem with a particular previous routingdirection the user received for particular starting and ending locationsfor this particular trip.

The process 7800 then identifies (at 7815) the suggested routingdirections provided to the user for this particular trip. The process7800 then accesses the individual list of maneuvers and direction itemsprovided to the user for the particular user's routing direction search.

The process 7800 next identifies (at 7820) the actual route traveled bythe user. Some embodiments analyze the user's actual travel routebetween the start and end locations. The process 7820 defines a list ofactual maneuvers for the actual route taken by the user between thestart and end locations.

The process 7800 next identifies (at 7825) any discrepancies between theactual turn-by-turn maneuvers taken by the user and the suggesteddirections that were provided by the mapping application.

Some embodiments compare the individual list of maneuvers for thesuggested and actual route and note any differences and places where theuser may have deviated from the suggested route. Some embodimentscompare the overall route taken by the user and the route suggested bythe application and note any overlap and differences between the tworoutes.

The process 7800 next presents (at 7830) a list of the suggesteddirections for the particular route to the user with an indication ofitems where the user may have encountered a problem. Some embodimentsmay present the list of suggested directions and note particularmaneuvers in the list where the user may have deviated and executed adifferent maneuver than what was suggested by the application. Forinstance, a user may have noticed a particular street was underconstruction and, thus, had to take a detour for the particular segmentof the route. The actual directions taken by the user in this situationmay deviate from the suggested route provided by the application.

The process 7800 also permits the user to provide feedback for any ofthe identified discrepancies for the overall route. The process 7800receives (at 7835) any of the user comments regarding the particularrouting direction, which it then submits to the map server for analysisand to update any information it needs regarding the particular routeinformation. The process then ends.

FIG. 79 illustrates dynamically adapting user interface menu items forreporting a problem. In particular, the figure illustrates in fivedifferent stages 7905-7925 a user's interaction with the problemreporting feature and the presentation of a particular list of menuitems specific to the map view context of the user.

The first stage 7905 illustrates the application displaying a map viewof a particular street. The map view is currently in a satellite mode,showing a satellite image of the region of the map being displayed. Theuser is also tapping the page curl control 155 in order to access thevarious controls located behind the map being displayed.

The second stage 7910 illustrates the various controls with the usertapping the “Report a Problem” item 6340. The third stage 7915illustrates the user interface menu that is presented after the userselects 6340. The list of menu items presented in stage 7915 includesonly those items that would be relevant to a user for the particular mapview context. The list of menu items includes the following menu itemsthat have been described above: “Search results are incorrect,” “Streetor other label incorrect,” and “My Problem is not listed.” However, thelist of UI menu items does not include the “Location is missing,” and“Pin is at incorrect location,” and “Problem with directions” menuitems. For this particular figure, the map view does not display anypins and thus the “Pin is at incorrect location” menu item would beinapplicable. Furthermore, it is assumed that the user has not beenusing directions for a route and thus the problem with directions optionis also not listed by the UI.

The third stage 7915 does illustrate a new UI item, 7975, “Problem withsatellite image.” This particular item 7975 is listed because the userhad been viewing the map in stage 7905 in the satellite mode. Asmentioned above, the mapping application of some embodiments dynamicallyadapts the list of menu items to include choices that would be relevantfor the particular map view context of the user. The stage 7915 alsoillustrates that the user selects this menu item 7975 to indicate aproblem with the satellite image.

The fourth stage 7920 shows the satellite image of the currentlydisplayed region of the map. The mapping application allows the user tomanipulate the map (e.g., zoom, swipe to view different region of themap, etc.) to position the map. In some embodiments, the satellite imageshowing a particular portion displayed by the mapping application getssent along with the problem report.

The fifth stage 7925 illustrates the user interface for providingfeedback regarding the satellite image. A user may select from variouspre-defined choices, including a UI item 7940 for indicating that thesatellite image is out of date (e.g., does not reflect the current areacovered by the map) and a UI item 7945 for indicating the satelliteimage has poor quality (e.g., the image is blurry). The user may alsoprovide general comments in the comments field 7950. After a userselects one of the items or completes their suggestions, the user maysend this information to the map server by selecting the UI item 6495.

C. Dynamically Presenting Problem Reporting UIs

As described so far, the mapping application dynamically presentsdifferent sets of UI items for reporting different types of problems.The mapping application of some embodiments also presents differentsequences of pages for reporting different types of problems. FIG. 80conceptually illustrates a process 8000 that some embodiments perform topresent a sequence of pages with different sets of UIs for reportingdifferent types of problems. The process 8000 in some embodiments isperformed by the mapping application. The process 8000 of someembodiments starts when the user selects a UI item for reporting aproblem (e.g., the UI item 6340).

The process 8000 begins by identifying (at 8005) the state of themapping application just prior to the selection of the UI item forreporting a problem. The state of the mapping application in someembodiments includes the activities that the user has been performingjust prior to the selection of the UI item. For instance, the activitiesmay include dropping a pin on a map, navigating with traffic statusturned on, selecting a POI and viewing the “stage,” viewing searchresults, etc.

Next, the process 8000 presents (at 8010) a set of UI items forreporting different types of problems. The process 8000 of someembodiments dynamically determines which types of problems for which topresent a set of UI items based on the state of the mapping application.For instance, the process 8000 will not include in the set of UI items aUI item for reporting that a pin is at an incorrect location when theuser had just added a pin to a location of a map. Also, the process 8000will add to the set of UI items a UI item for reporting a problem with atraffic feature when the user selected the UI item for reporting aproblem while the traffic feature is on.

The process 8000 next receives (at 8015) a selection of a UI item forreporting a particular type of problem. The process 8000 thendynamically determines (at 8020) a sequence of UI pages for allowing theuser to provide the details of the particular type of problem. Forinstance, the process 8000 provides a first sequence of UI pages forreporting that the POI's existence at a particular location in the mapwhile providing a second different sequence of UI pages for reportingthat the information about the POI is incorrect as shown in the examplesdescribed above by reference to FIGS. 64-71.

The process 8000 then sends (at 8025) the details of the problem and anyuser corrections to the remote map server so that the map server canresolve the problem. In some embodiments, the process 8000 also sendsother information about the state of the mapping application (e.g.,language setting, the current location, other specification of thedevice, etc.) so that the map server sufficiently detailed informationto identify and resolve the problems. In some embodiments, there may bea triaging entity between the device on which the mapping application isrunning and the map server as is described further below. The process8000 then ends.

D. Viewing Previously Reported Problems

In addition to providing a problem reporting mechanism, the mappingapplication of some embodiments allows the user to track the problemsthat the user has previously reported. For instance, the mappingapplication of some embodiments presents the history of previouslyreported problems and their status. FIG. 81 illustrates in threedifferent stages 8105-8115 an example of finding the status of a problemthat the user has previously reported using the mapping application ofsome embodiments.

The first stage 8105 illustrates the problem reporting page and the GUI6345. The GUI 6345 of some embodiments includes a UI item 8130 forviewing a list of previously reported problems in addition to other UIitems for reporting different types of problems. The first stage 8105illustrates the selection of the item 8130.

The second stage 8110 illustrates that the mapping application hasopened up a page (a GUI 8100) that displays a list of problemspreviously reported by the user of the device on which the mappingapplication is running. In some embodiments, the list of problems isdisplayed as a set of UI items 8140, where each UI item in the set isfor showing brief information about the problem. The second stage 8110also illustrates a UI item 8135 for going back to the previous page.

In some embodiments, the mapping application displays the most recentlyreported problems by default. The mapping application also allows theuser to sort the problems in a number of different ways (e.g., by names,by the dates resolved, by the dates reported, etc.). The mappingapplication also allows the user to scroll up and down the GUI 8100 tosee other problems in the list.

In some embodiments, each UI item 8140 for a reported problem shown inthe GUI 8100 includes brief information about the problem. For instance,the UI item 8140 shows the type of the problem, the date and time of thereport, a UI item 8145 for showing the current status of the problem.The status of the problem indicates whether the problem has beenresolved or not. In some embodiments, the mapping application opens upanother page or expands the UI 8140 to display the details of theproblem and its status. For instance, as illustrated in the next stage8115, the mapping application of some embodiments opens up an email fromthe map server that shows the details of the problem and the status forthe problem that has been resolved.

Although the UI item 8130 for viewing the previously reported problemsin this example is included in the GUI 6345, the UI item 8130 may beplaced in other pages or GUIs or views of the mapping application.

E. Triaging Reported Problems

Some embodiments of the invention provide a novel triaging tool fortriaging the problem reports received from devices so that selectedproblems are sent to the map servers for resolving the problems.Typically, a person who performs the triaging process (“a triager”) usesseveral different tools for performing different parts of a triagingprocess. For instance, the tools include a tool for viewing problemsreported from the devices, a tool for viewing the current map data toverify the reported problems, and a tool for sending verified problemsto the different sources of the map data. These different tools aretailored to achieve their respective purposes and are not designed towork together. As such, the triager has to switch between these tools toperform different parts of the triaging process. The triager also has tomanually transfer information from one tool to another and manuallygenerate the details of the problems to send to the sources.

The novel triaging tool of some embodiments provides a single interfacethrough which to perform the whole triaging process. This singleinterface allows the user to view a problem report, map data, and theinformation to send to the map source(s) together. The single interfacealso automates parts of the triaging process so that the triager cantriage problem reports more efficiently than using several differenttools for different parts of the triaging process.

1. Integrated Triage Tool

FIG. 82 illustrates a GUI 8200 which a triaging tool of some embodimentsprovides as the single interface for the triager to use to perform thewhole triaging process. In some embodiments, the triaging tool is aweb-based application. The web server that serves up the data for thetriaging tool is described further below by reference to FIG. 84.

The GUI 8200 of some embodiments includes three frames 8205, 8210, and8215. The frame 8205 includes a set of UI items for displaying andediting the content of a selected problem report. The frame 8210includes a set of UI items for displaying and editing the map data. Theframe 8215 includes a set of UI items for displaying and editing thecontent of the problem to send to one or more sources (e.g., mapservers) of the map data so that the map data can be modified at thesources.

The set of UI items in the frame 8205 includes UI items 8220-8242. Theitem 8220 is for displaying a screenshot of the mapping application ofsome embodiments. As shown, the mapping application has displayed in theitem 8220 a map that the user of the mapping device was viewing beforesending a problem report. The item 8225 is for displaying the inputlanguage setting the user of the mapping application was using. The item8230 is for displaying the name of the POI or a location to which theproblem report is related. The item 8235 is for displaying the user'scomments. The items 8242 are for categorizing the problem into differentgroups (e.g., unsure, invalid, fixed groups, etc.). The item 8240 is fordisplaying the tiles that the mapping application was using.

The set of UI items in the frame 8210 includes UI items 8250-8265. Theitems 8250 is for (1) selecting a base layer of the map, which includessatellite view, a map server's road view, and a map server's hybrid viewand (2) selecting a data layer of the map, which includes country,state, city, POI, and roads. A base layer of a map specifies the mode(e.g., satellite, standard, hybrid, etc.) in which to render the mapfrom the map data in a map display area 8265. A data layer of the mapspecifies the level of information (e.g., country level, state level,city level, POI level, roads level, etc.) about a location to display inthe information display pane 8255, which in some embodiments is overlaidon the map displayed in the map display area 8265. For instance, whenthe selected data layer is at the POI level, the information about thePOI of a location in the displayed map will be shown in the informationdisplay pane 8255. The information display pane 8255 in some embodimentsincludes a UI item 8260 for adding the information displayed in theinformation display pane 8255 to the details of the problem to send tothe sources of the map data.

The set of UI items in the frame 8215 includes UI items 8270-8280. Theitem 8270 are for displaying and editing the details (e.g., type ofproblem, specific problem, identifier for the problem, name of location,type of location, category of the location) of the problem to send tothe source of the map data (e.g., map server). The item 8275 is atext-editing field for displaying and editing comments to send to thesource along with other details of the problem. The item 8280 is forsending the details and comments for the problem to the source of themap data.

In some embodiments, the information displayed in one frame of the GUI8200 is used to determine the information to display in another frame ofthe GUI 8200. For example, the triage tool uses location and tilesdisplayed in the frame 8205 to automatically render the map in the mapdisplay area 8265 of the frame 8210 and to automatically populate theinformation in the information display pane 8255 of the frame 8215. Asanother example, the triage tool uses the information displayed in theinformation display pane 8255 to populate the UI items 8270 of the frame8215.

FIG. 83 illustrates a GUI 8300 of a triaging tool of some embodimentsthat is provided as the single interface for the triager to use toperform the whole triaging process. The triage tool of some embodimentsprovides the GUI 8300 as an alternative layout to the GUI 8200 in FIG.82. As mentioned above, the triaging tool of some embodiments is aweb-based application while in other embodiments the triaging tool maketake some other form of application (e.g., a plain client applicationused to access the service provided by the server). The server thatserves up the data for the triaging tool is described further below byreference to FIG. 84.

The GUI 8300 of some embodiments includes three frames 8305, 8310, and8315. The frame 8305 includes a set of UI items for displaying andediting the content of a selected problem report. The frame 8310includes a set of UI items for displaying and editing the map data. Theframe 8315 includes a set of UI items for displaying and editing thecontent of the problem to send to one or more sources (e.g., mapservers) of the map data so that the map data can be modified at thesources.

The set of UI items in the frame 8305 includes UI items 8320-8340. Theitem 8320 is for displaying a screenshot of the mapping application ofsome embodiments. As shown, this screenshot shows a position control anda page curl because the screenshot was taken in a map view. As shown,the mapping application has displayed in the item 8320 a map that theuser of the mapping device was viewing before sending a problem report.

A set of items 8325 is for displaying setting information of the devicefrom which this problem report originates. As shown, the set of items8325 shows the setting information of the device, such as devicelocation, device locale, input language, etc. A set of items 8330 is fordisplaying the content of the problem report such as the type of theproblem and content. As shown, the issue and comments match to theclient device's application that we described above.

The location tab 8335 is for showing detailed information about thelocation for which the problem report was sent for. As shown, thelocation tab 8335 displays a business ID, name of the location, anaddress, a phone number, and a URL, which may be found in a contact cardof the location. Overlaid by the location tab 8335 is a map layers tab8340 which would show its map layers.

The frame 8305 has a top bar 8345, which indicates that the frame 8305is for a problem report. The top bar 8345 also displays a time andlocation stamp 8350 which indicates the time at which the report wassent by the user's device and the location from which the problem reportwas sent. The top bar 8345 also includes items 8342 for categorizing theproblem into different groups (e.g., unsure, invalid, fixed groups,etc.). The triager puts the problem into one of these groups based onthe triager's assessment of the problem report.

The set of UI items in the frame 8310 includes a top bar 8360 thatindicates that the frame 8310 is for browsing the map to find features(or properties) located within the region of the displayed map. The topbar 8360 also includes an item 8355 for resetting the map to a defaultregion or the region matching the location at which the POI of theproblem report shown in the frame 8305 exists. On the left side of theframe 8310 are a set of UI controls to allow the triager to zoom in andout, pan, or shift the map to other region.

The set of UI items in the frame 8315 includes UI items 8370-8395. Theitems 8370 are for displaying different types of problems that could bereported by the device. The item 8375 is for showing type of problemthat the problem report reports about. The items 8380 allows thetriagers to choose what features are wrong or problematic with the POIabout which the problem report was. The item 8395 is a text-editingfield for displaying and editing comments to send to the source alongwith other details of the problem selected using the items 8380. Theitems 8385 are for indicating whether the problem is on the map dataitself. The item 8390 is for sending the details and comments for theproblem to the source of the map data.

In some embodiments, the information displayed in one frame of the GUI8300 is used to determine the information to display in another frame ofthe GUI 8300. For example, the triage tool uses the location displayedin the frame 8305 to automatically render the map in the frame 8310 andto automatically populate the information in one or more items 8375 or8380 of the frame 8315.

2. Triage Tool Architecture and Operation

While FIG. 82 illustrates the client UI aspects of the triage tool, FIG.84 conceptually illustrates example architecture for the server sideaspect of the triage tool. In particular, FIG. 84 illustrates a triageserver 8400. This figure also illustrates networks 8405-6515, devices8420, and map service servers 8455-8465.

The devices 8420 are devices on which the mapping applications of someembodiments run. Examples of such a device include smartphones andtablet devices such as iPhones® and iPads®. The mapping applicationsgenerate the problem reports based on a user's inputs as describedabove. The mapping applications submit the problem reports to the triageserver 8400 over the network 8405, which is a communication network(e.g., a GSM network, a CDMA network, a Wi-Fi network, a Bluetoothnetwork, etc.) or a network of networks (e.g., the Internet). Asmentioned above, the problem reports in some embodiments include detailsof the problem as well as a rich set of other information that mayinclude the state of the machine (e.g., language setting, the currentlocation, etc.) and the specification of the devices (e.g., memory, CPU,GPU, etc.).

The triage server 8400 includes logs 8425, an updater 8430, a problemreports database 8435, a triage manager 8440, and an applicationinterface 8445. The logs 8425 store the problem reports whenever themapping applications running on devices 8420 send the problem reports.The updater 8430 monitors the logs 8425 to pull out newly added reportsfrom the logs 8425 and update the problem reports database 8435. Theproblem reports database 8435 is a database that stores the content ofthe problem reports.

The triage manager 8440 of some embodiments generates analytics andreports by running database queries against the problem reportsdatabase. The triage manager 8440 constructs these database queriesbased on the inputs received through the application interface 8445 fromtriagers 8450. The triagers 8450 uses the triage client tools (e.g., theGUI 8200 described above by reference to FIG. 82) to provide the inputs.The triage client tools (not shown) send the inputs over the network8415, which is similar to the network 8405.

Because the problem reports from the devices 8420 includes a rich set ofinformation as well as details on the problems, the triage manager 8440can generate richer analytics and reports when compared to a typicaltriage server and the analytics and reports a typical triage server isable to generate. For instance, the triage manager 8440 can run adatabase query to generate analytics on problems arising from languagesettings of the devices (e.g., problems caused while translating ortransliterating the name of a POI in one language to another languagewhen the device has language set for one language and is used in acountry in which the name of the POI is in another language). Similarly,the triage manager 8440 can run database queries for specific problemsusing some of the specific information included in the problem reportsdatabase 8435.

The triage manager 8440 of some embodiments also gathers data requestedby the triage client tool (e.g., the GUI 8200) and serves up the data tothe triage client tool through the application interface 8445. In someembodiments, the application interface 8445 facilitates thecommunication between the triage manager 8440 and the triage clienttools that the triagers 8450 are using. In some such embodiments, theapplication interface is a web interface to format the data fordisplaying as a web page (e.g., the GUI 8200).

In some embodiments, the triagers, 8450 using the triage client toolsand the triage server 8400, are remotely away from each other. Forinstance, the triage server 8400 may be running at a datacenter locatedin one country and the triagers 8450 are in another country and accessthe triager server 8400 over the network 8415.

The triage manager 8440 of some embodiments also communicates with oneor more map servers 8455-8465 which are the sources of the map data thatthe mapping applications running on the devices 8420 use, over thenetwork 8410 which is similar to the network 5205. The triage manager8440 receives or retrieves the map data from the map servers and sendsthe requests to resolve problems with the map data. Typically, a triageserver is implemented in proprietary APIs provided by the different mapservers in order to communicate with the different map servers. However,the triage server 8100 of some embodiments supports one common API. Inthese embodiments, it is the map servers that should be implementedusing this common API such that the triage server 8100 does not have tobe tailored to communicate with each of the map servers using theproprietary API for that map server.

Several example operations of the triage server 8400 will now bedescribed by reference to FIGS. 85-87. FIG. 85 conceptually illustratesa process 8500 that some embodiments perform in order to communicatewith one more map servers that provide map data. The process 8500 isperformed by a triage server of some embodiments (e.g., the triageserver 8400). The process 8500 of some embodiments starts when therequest to resolve problems are ready to be sent to the map servers.

The process 8500 begins by receiving (at 8505) a request to send aproblem to resolve to the map server. In some cases, the process 8500receives this request from the triage tool when the triager using thetriage tool makes such request. In other cases, the process 8500receives this request from a map server that wants to retrieve problemswith the map server's map data from the triage server 8400.

The process 8500 then prepares (at 8510) the information about theproblem to resolve in a format that conforms to a common API. Next, theprocess sends (at 8515) the prepared information to the map server (1)that is the source of the map data that has the problem and (2) thatimplements the common API. The map server should be developed using thecommon API in order to communicate with the triage server. The processthen ends.

FIG. 86 conceptually illustrates a process 8600 that some embodimentsperform to receive problem reports from devices that generate theproblem reports. In some embodiments, these devices run the mappingapplication instances that consume map data provided by one or more mapservers. The users of the mapping application instances identifyproblems with the map data (e.g., specifics of places that the userfound using the mapping application) and send problem reports using themapping application instances. The devices also send setting informationof the mapping application instances and the devices themselves to thetriage server 8400. The process 8600 of some embodiments is performed bythe triage server 8400.

The process 8600 begins by receiving (at 8605) the problem reports andtheir related settings information from the devices that generateproblem reports. The settings information is additional information thataccompanies a problem report so that richer analytics can be generatedfrom the problem reports. In some embodiments, the settings informationincludes the settings information of the device on which the mappingapplication is running. Examples of such settings information includelanguage setting, locational setting, time and currency formats, timezone, operating system, display resolution, audio setting, etc. Inaddition, the settings information may also include settings informationabout the mapping application in some embodiments. Examples of suchsettings information include language setting, zoom level, history ofuser interaction with the mapping application, state in which themapping application was when the problem report was generated (e.g.,showing a map, showing a route, showing a search result, showing a list,etc.). One of the ordinary skill will recognize other settingsinformation exists.

In some embodiments, the process 8600 stores the received problemsreports and the setting information in a memory, such as the logs 8425.The process 8600 of some embodiments deposits the received reports andinformation in the memory without modifying the formats in which thereports and information are received.

Next, the process updates (at 8610) a problem reports database with theproblem reports and settings information. In some embodiments, theproblem reports database is a relational database. Thus, the process inthese embodiments parses the problem reports and setting information anddefines the relations in the database using the parsed data.

The process 8600 then performs (at 8615) an analysis on the data storedin the problem reports database in order to generate analytics.Generating analytics by running database queries on the problem reportsand the settings information stored in the database is described below.

FIG. 87 conceptually illustrates a process 8700 that some embodimentsperform in order to generate analytics from the database that includesdata for problems with map data. The process 8700 in some embodiments isperformed by the triage manager 8440.

The process 8700 begins by receiving (at 8705) a request to generateparticular analytics based on the user-reported problems with map data.The request includes user inputs for generating a database query. Theuser inputs are from triagers and include specific information that isnot included in a typical problem report (e.g., language setting of thedevice on which the mapping application of some embodiments runs).

The process 8700 then constructs (at 8710) a database query using theuser inputs. The process then runs (at 8715) the query against a problemreports database such as the problem reports database 8435. The process8700 then generates (at 8720) the analytics based on the results of thedatabase query. The process 8700 then ends.

3. Problem Reporting Client

FIG. 88 conceptually illustrates a process 8800 that some embodimentsperform to send problem reports to a triage server. In some embodiments,the process 8800 is performed by a mapping application which runs on adevice. The mapping application receives map data provided by one ormore map servers. The process 8800 starts when a user identifies aproblem with the map data and prepares a problem report regarding theidentified the problem using the mapping application.

The process begins by receiving (at 8805) a request to send the problemreport. In some embodiments, the process receives such request when theuser selects a UI item (e.g., the UI item 6495 described above) forsending a problem report. The process 8800 then identifies (at 8810) theproblem report associated with the request.

Next, the process 8800 identifies (at 8815) settings information. Insome embodiments, the settings information that the process 8800identifies includes the settings information of the device on which themapping application runs as well as the setting information of themapping application. Examples of such settings information (of thedevice and of the mapping application) are described above.

The process then sends (at 8820) the identified problem report and thesettings information to a triage server such as the triage server 8400or to one or more map servers that provided the map data which has theproblem identified by the problem report.

VII. Electronic System

Many of the above-described features and applications are implemented assoftware processes that are specified as a set of instructions recordedon a computer readable storage medium (also referred to as computerreadable medium). When these instructions are executed by one or morecomputational or processing unit(s) (e.g., one or more processors, coresof processors, or other processing units), they cause the processingunit(s) to perform the actions indicated in the instructions. Examplesof computer readable media include, but are not limited to, CD-ROMs,flash drives, random access memory (RAM) chips, hard drives, erasableprogrammable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memories (EEPROMs), etc. The computer readablemedia does not include carrier waves and electronic signals passingwirelessly or over wired connections.

In this specification, the term “software” is meant to include firmwareresiding in read-only memory or applications stored in magnetic storagewhich can be read into memory for processing by a processor. Also, insome embodiments, multiple software inventions can be implemented assub-parts of a larger program while remaining distinct softwareinventions. In some embodiments, multiple software inventions can alsobe implemented as separate programs. Finally, any combination ofseparate programs that together implement a software invention describedhere is within the scope of the invention. In some embodiments, thesoftware programs, when installed to operate on one or more electronicsystems, define one or more specific machine implementations thatexecute and perform the operations of the software programs.

A. Mobile Device

The multi-mode mapping application of some embodiments operate on mobiledevices, such as smartphones (e.g., iPhones®) and tablets (e.g.,iPads®). FIG. 89 is an example of an architecture 8900 of such a mobilecomputing device. Examples of mobile computing devices includesmartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. As shown, the mobile computingdevice 8900 includes one or more processing units 8905, a memoryinterface 8910 and a peripherals interface 8915.

The peripherals interface 8915 is coupled to various sensors andsubsystems, including a camera subsystem 8920, a wireless communicationsubsystem(s) 8925, an audio subsystem 8930, an I/O subsystem 8935, etc.The peripherals interface 8915 enables communication between theprocessing units 8905 and various peripherals. For example, anorientation sensor 8945 (e.g., a gyroscope) and an acceleration sensor8950 (e.g., an accelerometer) is coupled to the peripherals interface8915 to facilitate orientation and acceleration functions.

The camera subsystem 8920 is coupled to one or more optical sensors 8940(e.g., a charged coupled device (CCD) optical sensor, a complementarymetal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) optical sensor, etc.). The camerasubsystem 8920 coupled with the optical sensors 8940 facilitates camerafunctions, such as image and/or video data capturing. The wirelesscommunication subsystem 8925 serves to facilitate communicationfunctions. In some embodiments, the wireless communication subsystem8925 includes radio frequency receivers and transmitters, and opticalreceivers and transmitters (not shown in FIG. 89). These receivers andtransmitters of some embodiments are implemented to operate over one ormore communication networks such as a GSM network, a Wi-Fi network, aBluetooth network, etc. The audio subsystem 8930 is coupled to a speakerto output audio (e.g., to output voice navigation instructions).Additionally, the audio subsystem 8930 is coupled to a microphone tofacilitate voice-enabled functions, such as voice recognition (e.g., forsearching), digital recording, etc.

The I/O subsystem 8935 involves the transfer between input/outputperipheral devices, such as a display, a touch screen, etc., and thedata bus of the processing units 8905 through the peripherals interface8915. The I/O subsystem 8935 includes a touch-screen controller 8955 andother input controllers 8960 to facilitate the transfer betweeninput/output peripheral devices and the data bus of the processing units8905. As shown, the touch-screen controller 8955 is coupled to a touchscreen 8965. The touch-screen controller 8955 detects contact andmovement on the touch screen 8965 using any of multiple touchsensitivity technologies. The other input controllers 8960 are coupledto other input/control devices, such as one or more buttons. Someembodiments include a near-touch sensitive screen and a correspondingcontroller that can detect near-touch interactions instead of or inaddition to touch interactions.

The memory interface 8910 is coupled to memory 8970. In someembodiments, the memory 8970 includes volatile memory (e.g., high-speedrandom access memory), non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory), acombination of volatile and non-volatile memory, and/or any other typeof memory. As illustrated in FIG. 89, the memory 8970 stores anoperating system (OS) 8972. The OS 8972 includes instructions forhandling basic system services and for performing hardware dependenttasks.

The memory 8970 also includes communication instructions 8974 tofacilitate communicating with one or more additional devices; graphicaluser interface instructions 8976 to facilitate graphic user interfaceprocessing; image processing instructions 8978 to facilitateimage-related processing and functions; input processing instructions8980 to facilitate input-related (e.g., touch input) processes andfunctions; audio processing instructions 8982 to facilitateaudio-related processes and functions; and camera instructions 8984 tofacilitate camera-related processes and functions. The instructionsdescribed above are merely exemplary and the memory 8970 includesadditional and/or other instructions in some embodiments. For instance,the memory for a smartphone may include phone instructions to facilitatephone-related processes and functions. Additionally, the memory mayinclude instructions for a multi-mode mapping application. Theabove-identified instructions need not be implemented as separatesoftware programs or modules. Various functions of the mobile computingdevice can be implemented in hardware and/or in software, including inone or more signal processing and/or application specific integratedcircuits.

While the components illustrated in FIG. 89 are shown as separatecomponents, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that two ormore components may be integrated into one or more integrated circuits.In addition, two or more components may be coupled together by one ormore communication buses or signal lines. Also, while many of thefunctions have been described as being performed by one component, oneof ordinary skill in the art will realize that the functions describedwith respect to FIG. 89 may be split into two or more integratedcircuits.

B. Computer System

FIG. 90 conceptually illustrates another example of an electronic system9000 with which some embodiments of the invention are implemented. Theelectronic system 9000 may be a computer (e.g., a desktop computer,personal computer, tablet computer, etc.), phone, PDA, or any other sortof electronic or computing device. Such an electronic system includesvarious types of computer readable media and interfaces for variousother types of computer readable media. Electronic system 9000 includesa bus 9005, processing unit(s) 9010, a graphics processing unit (GPU)9015, a system memory 9020, a network 9025, a read-only memory 9030, apermanent storage device 9035, input devices 9040, and output devices9045.

The bus 9005 collectively represents all system, peripheral, and chipsetbuses that communicatively connect the numerous internal devices of theelectronic system 9000. For instance, the bus 9005 communicativelyconnects the processing unit(s) 9010 with the read-only memory 9030, theGPU 9015, the system memory 9020, and the permanent storage device 9035.

From these various memory units, the processing unit(s) 9010 retrievesinstructions to execute and data to process in order to execute theprocesses of the invention. The processing unit(s) may be a singleprocessor or a multi-core processor in different embodiments. Someinstructions are passed to and executed by the GPU 9015. The GPU 9015can offload various computations or complement the image processingprovided by the processing unit(s) 9010. In some embodiments, suchfunctionality can be provided using CoreImage's kernel shading language.

The read-only-memory (ROM) 9030 stores static data and instructions thatare needed by the processing unit(s) 9010 and other modules of theelectronic system. The permanent storage device 9035, on the other hand,is a read-and-write memory device. This device is a non-volatile memoryunit that stores instructions and data even when the electronic system9000 is off. Some embodiments of the invention use a mass-storage device(such as a magnetic or optical disk and its corresponding disk drive,integrated flash memory) as the permanent storage device 9035.

Other embodiments use a removable storage device (such as a floppy disk,flash memory device, etc., and its corresponding drive) as the permanentstorage device Like the permanent storage device 9035, the system memory9020 is a read-and-write memory device. However, unlike storage device9035, the system memory 9020 is a volatile read-and-write memory, such arandom access memory. The system memory 9020 stores some of theinstructions and data that the processor needs at runtime. In someembodiments, the invention's processes are stored in the system memory9020, the permanent storage device 9035, and/or the read-only memory9030. From these various memory units, the processing unit(s) 9010retrieves instructions to execute and data to process in order toexecute the processes of some embodiments.

The bus 9005 also connects to the input and output devices 9040 and9045. The input devices 9040 enable the user to communicate informationand select commands to the electronic system. The input devices 9040include alphanumeric keyboards and pointing devices (also called “cursorcontrol devices”), cameras (e.g., webcams), microphones or similardevices for receiving voice commands, etc. The output devices 9045display images generated by the electronic system or otherwise outputdata. The output devices 9045 include printers and display devices, suchas cathode ray tubes (CRT) or liquid crystal displays (LCD), as well asspeakers or similar audio output devices. Some embodiments includedevices such as a touchscreen that function as both input and outputdevices.

Finally, as shown in FIG. 90, bus 9005 also couples electronic system9000 to a network 9025 through a network adapter (not shown). In thismanner, the computer can be a part of a network of computers (such as alocal area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), or anIntranet), or a network of networks, such as the Internet. Any or allcomponents of electronic system 9000 may be used in conjunction with theinvention.

Some embodiments include electronic components, such as microprocessors,storage and memory that store computer program instructions in amachine-readable or computer-readable medium (alternatively referred toas computer-readable storage media, machine-readable media, ormachine-readable storage media). Some examples of such computer-readablemedia include RAM, ROM, read-only compact discs (CD-ROM), recordablecompact discs (CD-R), rewritable compact discs (CD-RW), read-onlydigital versatile discs (e.g., DVD-ROM, dual-layer DVD-ROM), a varietyof recordable/rewritable DVDs (e.g., DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, etc.),flash memory (e.g., SD cards, mini-SD cards, micro-SD cards, etc.),magnetic and/or solid state hard drives, read-only and recordableBlu-Ray® discs, ultra density optical discs, any other optical ormagnetic media, and floppy disks. The computer-readable media may storea computer program that is executable by at least one processing unitand includes sets of instructions for performing various operations.Examples of computer programs or computer code include machine code,such as is produced by a compiler, and files including higher-level codethat are executed by a computer, an electronic component, or amicroprocessor using an interpreter.

While the above discussion primarily refers to microprocessor ormulti-core processors that execute software, some embodiments areperformed by one or more integrated circuits, such as applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs) or field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs). In some embodiments, such integrated circuits executeinstructions that are stored on the circuit itself. In addition, someembodiments execute software stored in programmable logic devices(PLDs), ROM, or RAM devices.

As used in this specification and any claims of this application, theterms “computer”, “server”, “processor”, and “memory” all refer toelectronic or other technological devices. These terms exclude people orgroups of people. For the purposes of the specification, the termsdisplay or displaying means displaying on an electronic device. As usedin this specification and any claims of this application, the terms“computer readable medium,” “computer readable media,” and “machinereadable medium” are entirely restricted to tangible, physical objectsthat store information in a form that is readable by a computer. Theseterms exclude any wireless signals, wired download signals, and anyother ephemeral signals.

VIII. Map Service Environment

Various embodiments may operate within a map service operatingenvironment. FIG. 91 illustrates a map service operating environment,according to some embodiments. A map service 9130 (also referred to asmapping service) may provide map services for one or more client devices9102 a-9102 c in communication with the map service 9130 through variouscommunication methods and protocols. A map service 9130 in someembodiments provides map information and other map-related data, such astwo-dimensional map image data (e.g., aerial view of roads utilizingsatellite imagery), three-dimensional map image data (e.g., traversablemap with three-dimensional features, such as buildings), route anddirection calculations (e.g., ferry route calculations or directionsbetween two points for a pedestrian), real-time navigation data (e.g.,turn-by-turn visual navigation data in two or three dimensions),location data (e.g., where the client device currently is located), andother geographic data (e.g., wireless network coverage, weather, trafficinformation, or nearby points-of-interest). In various embodiments, themap service data may include localized labels for different countries orregions. Localized labels may be utilized to present map labels (e.g.,street names, city names, points of interest) in different languages onclient devices. Client devices 9102 a-9102 c may utilize these mapservices by obtaining map service data. Client devices 9102 a-9102 c mayimplement various techniques to process map service data. Client devices9102 a-9102 c may then provide map services to various entities,including, but not limited to, users, internal software or hardwaremodules, and/or other systems or devices external to the client devices9102 a-9102 c.

In some embodiments, a map service is implemented by one or more nodesin a distributed computing system. Each node may be assigned one or moreservices or components of a map service. Some nodes may be assigned thesame map service or component of a map service. A load balancing node insome embodiments distributes access or requests to other nodes within amap service. In some embodiments a map service is implemented as asingle system, such as a single server. Different modules or hardwaredevices within a server may implement one or more of the variousservices provided by a map service.

A map service in some embodiments provides map services by generatingmap service data in various formats. In some embodiments, one format ofmap service data is map image data. Map image data provides image datato a client device so that the client device may process the image data(e.g., rendering and/or displaying the image data as a two-dimensionalor three-dimensional map). Map image data, whether in two or threedimensions, may specify one or more map tiles. A map tile may be aportion of a larger map image. Assembling together the map tiles of amap produces the original map. Tiles may be generated from map imagedata, routing or navigation data, or any other map service data. In someembodiments map tiles are raster-based map tiles, with tile sizesranging from any size both larger and smaller than a commonly-used 256pixel by 256 pixel tile. Raster-based map tiles may be encoded in anynumber of standard digital image representations including, but notlimited to, Bitmap (.bmp), Graphics Interchange Format (.gif), JointPhotographic Experts Group (.jpg, jpeg, etc.), Portable Networks Graphic(.png), or Tagged Image File Format (.tiff). In some embodiments, maptiles are vector-based map tiles, encoded using vector graphics,including, but not limited to, Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg) or aDrawing File (.drw). Some embodiments also include tiles with acombination of vector and raster data. Metadata or other informationpertaining to the map tile may also be included within or along with amap tile, providing further map service data to a client device. Invarious embodiments, a map tile is encoded for transport utilizingvarious standards and/or protocols, some of which are described inexamples below.

In various embodiments, map tiles may be constructed from image data ofdifferent resolutions depending on zoom level. For instance, for lowzoom level (e.g., world or globe view), the resolution of map or imagedata need not be as high relative to the resolution at a high zoom level(e.g., city or street level). For example, when in a globe view, theremay be no need to render street level artifacts as such objects would beso small as to be negligible in many cases.

A map service in some embodiments performs various techniques to analyzea map tile before encoding the tile for transport. This analysis mayoptimize map service performance for both client devices and a mapservice. In some embodiments map tiles are analyzed for complexity,according to vector-based graphic techniques, and constructed utilizingcomplex and non-complex layers. Map tiles may also be analyzed forcommon image data or patterns that may be rendered as image textures andconstructed by relying on image masks. In some embodiments, raster-basedimage data in a map tile contains certain mask values, which areassociated with one or more textures. Some embodiments also analyze maptiles for specified features that may be associated with certain mapstyles that contain style identifiers.

Other map services generate map service data relying upon various dataformats separate from a map tile in some embodiments. For instance, mapservices that provide location data may utilize data formats conformingto location service protocols, such as, but not limited to, RadioResource Location services Protocol (RRLP), TIA 801 for Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA), Radio Resource Control (RRC) position protocol,or LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP). Embodiments may also receive orrequest data from client devices identifying device capabilities orattributes (e.g., hardware specifications or operating system version)or communication capabilities (e.g., device communication bandwidth asdetermined by wireless signal strength or wired or wireless networktype).

A map service may obtain map service data from internal or externalsources. For example, satellite imagery used in map image data may beobtained from external services, or internal systems, storage devices,or nodes. Other examples may include, but are not limited to, GPSassistance servers, wireless network coverage databases, business orpersonal directories, weather data, government information (e.g.,construction updates or road name changes), or traffic reports. Someembodiments of a map service may update map service data (e.g., wirelessnetwork coverage) for analyzing future requests from client devices.

Various embodiments of a map service respond to client device requestsfor map services. These requests may be a request for a specific map orportion of a map. Some embodiments format requests for a map as requestsfor certain map tiles. In some embodiments, requests also supply the mapservice with starting locations (or current locations) and destinationlocations for a route calculation. A client device may also request mapservice rendering information, such as map textures or style sheets. Inat least some embodiments, requests are also one of a series of requestsimplementing turn-by-turn navigation. Requests for other geographic datamay include, but are not limited to, current location, wireless networkcoverage, weather, traffic information, or nearby points-of-interest.

A map service, in some embodiments, analyzes client device requests tooptimize a device or map service operation. For instance, a map servicemay recognize that the location of a client device is in an area of poorcommunications (e.g., weak wireless signal) and send more map servicedata to supply a client device in the event of loss in communication orsend instructions to utilize different client hardware (e.g.,orientation sensors) or software (e.g., utilize wireless locationservices or Wi-Fi positioning instead of GPS-based services). In anotherexample, a map service may analyze a client device request forvector-based map image data and determine that raster-based map databetter optimizes the map image data according to the image's complexity.Embodiments of other map services may perform similar analysis on clientdevice requests and as such the above examples are not intended to belimiting.

Various embodiments of client devices (e.g., client devices 9102 a-9102c) are implemented on different portable-multifunction device types.Client devices 9102 a-9102 c utilize map service 9130 through variouscommunication methods and protocols. In some embodiments, client devices9102 a-9102 c obtain map service data from map service 9130. Clientdevices 9102 a-9102 c request or receive map service data. Clientdevices 9102 a-9102 c then process map service data (e.g., render and/ordisplay the data) and may send the data to another software or hardwaremodule on the device or to an external device or system.

A client device, according to some embodiments, implements techniques torender and/or display maps. These maps may be requested or received invarious formats, such as map tiles described above. A client device mayrender a map in two-dimensional or three-dimensional views. Someembodiments of a client device display a rendered map and allow a user,system, or device providing input to manipulate a virtual camera in themap, changing the map display according to the virtual camera'sposition, orientation, and field-of-view. Various forms and inputdevices are implemented to manipulate a virtual camera. In someembodiments, touch input, through certain single or combination gestures(e.g., touch-and-hold or a swipe) manipulate the virtual camera. Otherembodiments allow manipulation of the device's physical location tomanipulate a virtual camera. For instance, a client device may be tiltedup from its current position to manipulate the virtual camera to rotateup. In another example, a client device may be tilted forward from itscurrent position to move the virtual camera forward. Other input devicesto the client device may be implemented including, but not limited to,auditory input (e.g., spoken words), a physical keyboard, mouse, and/ora joystick.

Some embodiments provide various visual feedback to virtual cameramanipulations, such as displaying an animation of possible virtualcamera manipulations when transitioning from two-dimensional map viewsto three-dimensional map views. Some embodiments also allow input toselect a map feature or object (e.g., a building) and highlight theobject, producing a blur effect that maintains the virtual camera'sperception of three-dimensional space.

In some embodiments, a client device implements a navigation system(e.g., turn-by-turn navigation). A navigation system provides directionsor route information, which may be displayed to a user. Some embodimentsof a client device request directions or a route calculation from a mapservice. A client device may receive map image data and route data froma map service. In some embodiments, a client device implements aturn-by-turn navigation system, which provides real-time route anddirection information based upon location information and routeinformation received from a map service and/or other location system,such as a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system. A client device maydisplay map image data that reflects the current location of the clientdevice and update the map image data in real-time. A navigation systemmay provide auditory or visual directions to follow a certain route.

A virtual camera is implemented to manipulate navigation map dataaccording to some embodiments. Some embodiments of client devices allowthe device to adjust the virtual camera display orientation to biastoward the route destination. Some embodiments also allow the virtualcamera to navigation turns simulating the inertial motion of the virtualcamera.

Client devices implement various techniques to utilize map service datafrom map service. Some embodiments implement some techniques to optimizerendering of two-dimensional and three-dimensional map image data. Insome embodiments, a client device locally stores rendering information.For instance, a client stores a style sheet which provides renderingdirections for image data containing style identifiers. In anotherexample, common image textures may be stored to decrease the amount ofmap image data transferred from a map service. Client devices indifferent embodiments implement various modeling techniques to rendertwo-dimensional and three-dimensional map image data, examples of whichinclude, but are not limited to: generating three-dimensional buildingsout of two-dimensional building footprint data; modeling two-dimensionaland three-dimensional map objects to determine the client devicecommunication environment; generating models to determine whether maplabels are seen from a certain virtual camera position; and generatingmodels to smooth transitions between map image data. In someembodiments, the client devices also order or prioritize map servicedata in certain techniques. For instance, a client device detects themotion or velocity of a virtual camera, which if exceeding certainthreshold values, lower-detail image data is loaded and rendered forcertain areas. Other examples include: rendering vector-based curves asa series of points, preloading map image data for areas of poorcommunication with a map service, adapting textures based on displayzoom level, or rendering map image data according to complexity.

In some embodiments, client devices communicate utilizing various dataformats separate from a map tile. For instance, some client devicesimplement Assisted Global Positioning Satellites (A-GPS) and communicatewith location services that utilize data formats conforming to locationservice protocols, such as, but not limited to, Radio Resource Locationservices Protocol (RRLP), TIA 801 for Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA), Radio Resource Control (RRC) position protocol, or LTEPositioning Protocol (LPP). Client devices may also receive GPS signalsdirectly. Embodiments may also send data, with or without solicitationfrom a map service, identifying the client device's capabilities orattributes (e.g., hardware specifications or operating system version)or communication capabilities (e.g., device communication bandwidth asdetermined by wireless signal strength or wired or wireless networktype).

FIG. 91 illustrates one possible embodiment of an operating environment9100 for a map service 9130 and client devices 9102 a-9102 c. In someembodiments, devices 9102 a, 9102 b, and 9102 c communicate over one ormore wired or wireless networks 9110. For example, wireless network9110, such as a cellular network, can communicate with a wide areanetwork (WAN) 9120, such as the Internet, by use of gateway 9114. Agateway 9114 in some embodiments provides a packet oriented mobile dataservice, such as General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), or other mobiledata service allowing wireless networks to transmit data to othernetworks, such as wide area network 9120. Likewise, access device 9112(e.g., IEEE 802.11g wireless access device) provides communicationaccess to WAN 9120. Devices 9102 a and 9102 b can be any portableelectronic or computing device capable of communicating with a mapservice. Device 9102 c can be any non-portable electronic or computingdevice capable of communicating with a map service.

In some embodiments, both voice and data communications are establishedover wireless network 9110 and access device 9112. For instance, device9102 a can place and receive phone calls (e.g., using voice overInternet Protocol (VoIP) protocols), send and receive e-mail messages(e.g., using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) or Post OfficeProtocol 3 (POP3)), and retrieve electronic documents and/or streams,such as web pages, photographs, and videos, over wireless network 9110,gateway 9114, and WAN 9120 (e.g., using Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP)).Likewise, in some implementations, devices 9102 b and 9102 c can placeand receive phone calls, send and receive e-mail messages, and retrieveelectronic documents over access device 9112 and WAN 9120. In variousembodiments, any of the illustrated client devices may communicate withmap service 9130 and/or other service(s) 9150 using a persistentconnection established in accordance with one or more securityprotocols, such as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol or theTransport Layer Security (TLS) protocol.

Devices 9102 a and 9102 b can also establish communications by othermeans. For example, wireless device 9102 a can communicate with otherwireless devices (e.g., other devices 9102 b, cell phones, etc.) overthe wireless network 9110. Likewise devices 9102 a and 9102 b canestablish peer-to-peer communications 9140 (e.g., a personal areanetwork) by use of one or more communication subsystems, such asBluetooth® communication from Bluetooth Special Interest Group, Inc. ofKirkland, Wash. Device 9102 c can also establish peer to peercommunications with devices 9102 a or 9102 b (not shown). Othercommunication protocols and topologies can also be implemented. Devices9102 a and 9102 b may also receive Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)signals from GPS satellites 9160.

Devices 9102 a, 9102 b, and 9102 c can communicate with map service 9130over one or more wire and/or wireless networks, 9110 or 9112. Forinstance, map service 9130 can provide map service data to renderingdevices 9102 a, 9102 b, and 9102 c. Map service 9130 may alsocommunicate with other services 9150 to obtain data to implement mapservices. Map service 9130 and other services 9150 may also receive GPSsignals from GPS satellites 9160.

In various embodiments, map service 9130 and/or other service(s) 9150are configured to process search requests from any of the clientdevices. Search requests may include but are not limited to queries forbusinesses, addresses, residential locations, points of interest, orsome combination thereof. Map service 9130 and/or other service(s) 9150may be configured to return results related to a variety of parametersincluding but not limited to a location entered into an address bar orother text entry field (including abbreviations and/or other shorthandnotation), a current map view (e.g., user may be viewing one location onthe multifunction device while residing in another location), currentlocation of the user (e.g., in cases where the current map view did notinclude search results), and the current route (if any). In variousembodiments, these parameters may affect the composition of the searchresults (and/or the ordering of the search results) based on differentpriority weightings. In various embodiments, the search results that arereturned may be a subset of results selected based on specific criteriaincluding but not limited to a quantity of times the search result(e.g., a particular point of interest) has been requested, a measure ofquality associated with the search result (e.g., highest user oreditorial review rating), and/or the volume of reviews for the searchresults (e.g., the number of times the search result has been review orrated).

In various embodiments, map service 9130 and/or other service(s) 9150are configured to provide auto-complete search results that aredisplayed on the client device, such as within the mapping application.For instance, auto-complete search results may populate a portion of thescreen as the user enters one or more search keywords on themultifunction device. In some cases, this feature may save the user timeas the desired search result may be displayed before the user enters thefull search query. In various embodiments, the auto complete searchresults may be search results found by the client on the client device(e.g., bookmarks or contacts), search results found elsewhere (e.g.,from the Internet) by map service 9130 and/or other service(s) 9150,and/or some combination thereof. As is the case with commands, any ofthe search queries may be entered by the user via voice or throughtyping. The multifunction device may be configured to display searchresults graphically within any of the map display described herein. Forinstance, a pin or other graphical indicator may specify locations ofsearch results as points of interest. In various embodiments, responsiveto a user selection of one of these points of interest (e.g., a touchselection, such as a tap), the multifunction device is configured todisplay additional information about the selected point of interestincluding but not limited to ratings, reviews or review snippets, hoursof operation, store status (e.g., open for business, permanently closed,etc.), and/or images of a storefront for the point of interest. Invarious embodiments, any of this information may be displayed on agraphical information card that is displayed in response to the user'sselection of the point of interest.

In various embodiments, map service 9130 and/or other service(s) 9150provide one or more feedback mechanisms to receive feedback from clientdevices 9102 a-9102 c. For instance, client devices may provide feedbackon search results to map service 9130 and/or other service(s) 9150(e.g., feedback specifying ratings, reviews, temporary or permanentbusiness closures, errors etc.); this feedback may be used to updateinformation about points of interest in order to provide more accurateor more up-to-date search results in the future. In some embodiments,map service 9130 and/or other service(s) 9150 may provide testinginformation to the client device (e.g., an A/B test) to determine whichsearch results are best. For instance, at random intervals, the clientdevice may receive and present two search results to a user and allowthe user to indicate the best result. The client device may report thetest results to map service 9130 and/or other service(s) 9150 to improvefuture search results based on the chosen testing technique, such as anA/B test technique in which a baseline control sample is compared to avariety of single-variable test samples in order to improve results.

While the invention has been described with reference to numerousspecific details, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatthe invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit of the invention. For instance, many of the figuresillustrate various touch gestures (e.g., taps, double taps, swipegestures, press and hold gestures, etc.). However, many of theillustrated operations could be performed via different touch gestures(e.g., a swipe instead of a tap, etc.) or by non-touch input (e.g.,using a cursor controller, a keyboard, a touchpad/trackpad, a near-touchsensitive screen, etc.). In addition, a number of the figuresconceptually illustrate processes. The specific operations of theseprocesses may not be performed in the exact order shown and described.The specific operations may not be performed in one continuous series ofoperations, and different specific operations may be performed indifferent embodiments. Furthermore, the process could be implementedusing several sub-processes, or as part of a larger macro process.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of sending reported problems in map datato a plurality of sources of the map data, the method comprising:receiving a plurality of requests to send problem reports regardingpieces of map data to a plurality of different sources of the map data,wherein each piece of map data is associated with one of the sources;formatting the plurality of problem reports using a common applicationprogramming interface (API) shared by the plurality of different sourcesof the map data; and sending each of the formatted problem reports tothe particular one of the plurality of different sources that stores themap data to which the problem report relates.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein each of the plurality of sources supports the common API inorder to be able to receive and process the problem reports.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the problem reports originate from aplurality of different devices on which mapping applications run.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein the plurality of different devices comprisesmobile devices running mapping applications.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein the plurality of sources provide the map data to the mappingapplications.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the mobile devicescomprise smartphones running the mapping applications.
 7. For a firstcomputing device, a method of analyzing problem reports about map data,the method comprising: receiving a set of reports on problems with mapdata from a plurality of computing devices that display maps using themap data; with each report, receiving information about settings of theparticular computing device from which the report was received; andperforming an analysis on the problem reports and the settingsinformation to generate analytics from a storage that includes datarelating to problems with the map data.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein the plurality of computing devices run a mapping applicationthat uses the map data.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the mappingapplication is configured to send the reports and the information to thefirst computing device.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the pluralityof computing devices comprises a plurality of mobile devices.
 11. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the plurality of mobile devices comprises aplurality of smartphones.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein thegenerated analytics is generated by running queries on the problemreports in the storage with setting information stored in the storage.13. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program whichwhen executed by at least one processing unit sends reported problems inmap data to a plurality of sources of the map data, the programcomprising sets of instructions for: receiving a plurality of requeststo send problem reports regarding pieces of map data to a plurality ofdifferent sources of the map data, wherein each piece of map data isassociated with one of the sources; formatting the plurality of problemreports using a common application programming interface (API) shared bythe plurality of different sources of the map data; and sending each ofthe formatted problem reports to the particular one of the plurality ofdifferent sources that stores the map data to which the problem reportrelates.
 14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13,wherein each of the plurality of sources supports the common API inorder to be able to receive and process the problem reports.
 15. Thenon-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the problemreports originate from a plurality of different devices on which mappingapplications run.
 16. The non-transitory machine readable medium ofclaim 15, wherein the plurality of different devices comprises mobiledevices running mapping applications.
 17. The non-transitory machinereadable medium of claim 16, wherein the plurality of sources providethe map data to the mapping applications.
 18. The non-transitory machinereadable medium of claim 16, wherein the mobile devices comprisesmartphones running the mapping applications.